The amount of effort you have put into the study of the Bible can be seen in two things. The first thing is how old your Bible is and how worn out it is. If it has not been handled often enough and is still very clean, preserved intact, and kept in the same place, this proves that you have not spent time to study it. The second thing is how many circles, dots, and lines there are in your Bible, how many different colors there are, and how many annotations have been written in it. This does not mean that you should draw or write indiscriminately. The circles, dots, and lines you draw, the colors you apply, and the words you write must all be meaningful, and the more the better.
One thing that has been a concern to me and that I have always greatly regretted is that I lost my first Bible. I truly hope that I will be able to get back that Bible because it means a great deal to me. If today someone would offer a high price to buy my old Bibles, I definitely would not sell them. To me, they are my best savings, my priceless treasures. I say this with the hope that all of you will spend time to study the Bible diligently.
PURSUING THE FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Third, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit daily, to “buy oil” every day. Matthew 25:1-10 clearly tells us the significance of buying [327] oil. Many readers of the Bible know how rich the meaning of the word buy is. It includes confession of sins, prayer, dealing with negative things, obedience, paying the price, and following the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is related to pursuing the growth in life. Without being filled with the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to pursue the growth in life—the growth in life is simply unattainable. Our growth in life is altogether determined by the measure of the filling of the Holy Spirit within us. The infilling of the Holy Spirit fosters the growth in life. Without being filled with the Holy Spirit, a follower of the Lord is just like a plant without soil, water, sunlight, and air; even if he lives, he is merely prolonging his life temporarily. In biblical figures, we are God’s plants (1 Cor. 3:6), and the Triune God is our soil (Col. 2:7), sunlight (Mal. 4:2; Luke 1:78), air (Ezek. 37:9-10, 14a; John 20:22), and water, including rain (Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4; John 4:10, 14; 7:38-39; Rev. 22:1; cf. Gen. 2:5; Deut. 11:14; Joel 2:23, 28-29; Hosea 6:3; Zech. 10:1; Acts 2:16-18). The Holy Spirit is the processed and consummated Triune God; therefore, to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with the Triune God. When we are filled with the Triune God, we have soil, water, sunlight, and air, and the result is that we grow and become full-grown in life. We cannot say that because we were thoroughly filled with the Holy Spirit yesterday, we do not need to be filled today. We need to buy oil daily; that is, we need to experience the infilling of the Holy Spirit every day.
In the Philippines, the wind from March to May is very humid. Thus, a person easily gets sick if he is exposed to the wind. The local people prevent all kinds of illnesses by taking showers, at least once daily. People who live in the north do not need to shower every day, but if they go to the Philippines, they have to take a shower daily, and each time they must shower until they are thoroughly wet. They cannot say that they do not need a shower today because they already took one yesterday. Sometimes they may even need to take a shower three times a day. This is a good illustration of being filled with the Holy Spirit. We have to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day, and every time we have to be filled through and through. Sometimes we should be filled even three times a day. We surely have to exercise ourselves seriously in these three matters: growing in life, pursuing the truth, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. [328]
PURSUING CHARACTER TRAINING
The fourth and most important point is the training of our character. Why is character training so important? It is because the result of our pursuit in the preceding three matters depends entirely on the extent of our character training.
Character Being Related to Transformation
Character is a common term, but the training of a Christian’s character is related to the transformation referred to in the Bible. The real character training of a Christian is accomplished not by outward improvement but by inward transformation. This means that although you were not born this way, after a certain kind of element has been added into you and has been mingled with you, you become different, and thus your character is changed.
Transformation Requiring Breaking
There was a certain kind of sculpture in the ancient times that was made by grinding stones into powder, adding a cementing element to the powder, and then putting the compound into a mold until it solidified into a statue. This process may be used in a limited way to describe transformation. In the process of transformation we are ground into powder and mingled with the element of the Holy Spirit. Then we are put into the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross to be pressed and shaped. Eventually, our original form is changed, and what comes out is a transformed character. As fallen human beings, we inherited Adam’s fallen nature. Hence, our human character, which comes out of our natural being, whether good or bad, is fallen. The unbelievers call the cultivation of character “the nurturing of human nature.” History shows that people who nurture their humanity are strong in their will and able to exercise self-restraint. They develop a certain kind of character by their self-control. We Christians, however, are not like that. Our Christian character is cultivated in the death of the Lord Jesus by the breaking of the life of our old creation and the addition of the element of the Holy Spirit.
For this reason Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 that our outer man is decaying day by day (v. 16). It is better to translate decaying into “being consumed,” “being wasted away,” or “being worn out.” In our daily living, God is continually doing in us the work of consuming, [329] wasting away, and wearing out through His hand, or through the environment, in order to break us. Breaking is a fitting word because it indicates that we should not remain whole. Those who are whole cannot be transformed. Mineralogists know that diamonds are transformed from carbon that has undergone high heat and intense pressure underneath the earth for hundreds and thousands of years. All precious stones are formed in the same way; that is, they are transformed from natural substances that have gone through breaking, high temperature, and great pressure. In the same principle, if we desire to be transformed into precious stones, we also must pass through the same process and procedure.
Moreover, Paul says, “We who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake” (v. 11). God works in us continually to break and consume us in order to grind us into powder. We already have the life of the Lord Jesus in us; however, if we remain intact, there is no way for this life to be mingled with us. No element, regardless of what it is, can be mingled with a whole piece of stone. Thus, in order to be mingled with the life of the Lord, we must be broken and crushed. Once we are broken, the element of the Holy Spirit can be added into us and mingled with us. Then God will also raise up the environment as high temperature and intense pressure in order to transform us into precious stones.