Christ to me is so subjective

Whatever we do in all kinds of meetings must be living, stirring, and something the Spirit can use to inspire and unveil something to people concerning the mystery of God. We should do nothing merely as a religious activity. To help people to be revived or to love the Bible can also be a religious activity which is common in Christianity. This kind of work is very general. But to read and sing a hymn such as #537 in Hymns concerning Christ being so subjective would impress a new believer in a particular way. To stress that Christ is subjective is something really new to Christians in Christianity.

The descriptive word in the third parable is mustard (v. 31). These are parables, figurative records that we must understand in a figurative way. We must learn to read the figures. Seed grows into wheat, and wheat is good for eating. What is grown in Matthew 13, then, is good for eating. In the third parable we still have a seed, a mustard seed. A mustard seed is very small but good to eat. The mustard seed is Christ, who is small to us in order to be life to us. We have a hymn that says, "So subjective is my Christ to me! / Real in me, and rich and sweet!" (Hymns, #537). Originally, we sang the second line as, "Small in me, and rich and sweet!" However, some said that if we sing it in this way, simple people will not be able to understand. To think this way is the mentality of Christianity.

Actually, our oneness is the subjective Triune God, not the objective Triune God. The subjective Triune God is our real oneness. In 1963 I wrote a hymn on the subjectiveness of Christ (Hymns, #537). Our Christ is not merely objective. If He were merely objective, He would have nothing to do with us. He is subjective to such an extent that He has made Himself one spirit with us (1 Cor. 6:17). He and we are one spirit. This oneness is altogether by the essential Spirit, who is the very essence of the Divine Trinity.

Christ must be subjective to us. In more than one place, people have criticized our hymn that says, "Christ to me is so subjective" (Hymns, #537). Many people do not have the concept that Christ is subjective. Once when I had trouble with my car, a brother tried to explain the problem to me, but I could not understand all the mechanical terms. I simply took the car to a garage and let someone do the talking for me. Today too many Christians are like this concerning Christ. To speak about Christ being the life-giving Spirit causes havoc. They say, "Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior. This is good enough. Don't say anything beyond this." This is the poor situation today. Today I still do not drive a car, because in order to drive I must understand things about the car. In the same way, in order to be a good, normal Christian, we have to know the details of who Christ is. Christ must be revealed in us, He must live in us, we have to put Him on, and He must be formed in us.

Hymn #537 describes how subjective Christ is to us in our daily life. He is subjective to us for the building up of His Body. He causes us to repent and be regenerated, sanctified, and transformed. He is adjusting and correcting us all the time, even with many rebukes. He is correcting, rebuking, regulating, ruling, guiding, supplying, satisfying, and comforting us. We are under His transforming work all day long, and we are being conformed to His image. We are growing in life, and our growth is actually His increase [growth] in us. The very indwelling Christ is increasing in us. His increase in us is our growth in Him. By growing into Him, we are being transformed and we become the living members of Christ. In our transformation, we will realize that we cannot be individualistic and that we have to be built up with others for the building up of the Body of Christ.