It is Normal for me to be Normal, Martin Mwonhda

What does it mean to be normal? I thought of myself as more or less a normal, decent person. But what I considered to be normal was not according to what I discovered was revealed in the Bible. In the Bible, God has indicated in many ways how man ought to live his life; and this is inherent in the way He created man. Man was created in His image in order to contain and express his Creator (Genesis 1:26).

Needless to say, man has failed in this regard. But God came as man in incarnation and lived among us for thirty-three and one-half years. He lived life on the highest plane. His life was complete in every way, perfect, balanced, undefiled and untouched by sin. He lived a normal human life the way God ordained that it should be lived. People from every age have been touched by His living and many have been changed as a result. Even those who oppose Him admit that His life was without precedent. Then, after manifesting God in His human life, He went to the cross to die for the sins of the whole world. He gave Himself as an offering and a sacrifice in our place.

I believed in the Lord at an early age. Like many, I admired the, normalcy and timeless qualities of the Lord as revealed in the gospels. I secretly hoped that one day I would somehow exhibit in my own life many of His qualities, especially His manly virtues and wisdom. I admired Him, however, from a distance because I found that I didn't have what it takes to be such a man. I could not live such a life; I could not suffer what He suffered; and I could not meet up to the standard. Although I had received the Lord, we had two separate and different lives.

Things would have probably remained like this for a long time, but God had mercy on me. While searching for information on the internet I read some excerpts from the ministry of Witness Lee. Through this and subsequent contact with others who enjoyed this ministry, I began to enjoy the normal Christian life, not a life of trying to imitate the high standard of Christ life but of enjoying His life so that He could be reproduced in me. Just like the lover in the Song of Solomon who is transformed from being independent and strong in her ways like the horses of Egypt to being gentle and single in purpose like a dove, I realized that it is not enough to just have the Lord somewhere within me. He must grow in me to a point where He and I have one life and living.

This ministry showed me that I can actually enjoy Christ in a real way. He is not just the historical Jesus who lived on earth as a man and died on the cross to accomplish redemption. He also is my present enjoyment as the life-giving Spirit within me (1 Corinthians 45:45). As such a Christ I enjoy Him as the divine wine to cheer both God and man, as the divine oil to honor both God and man, as the greater Solomon who speaks words of wisdom to us and who is building God's temple to be God's eternal testimony and as the real Joshua who has brought me into the good land, into the Sabbath rest where I ceased from my wonderings and wanderings. As the all-inclusive Christ He is my portion in this age and for all time for me to enjoy and inherit. He is so many things to me for me to enjoy today and my enjoyment today will be my reward in the next age. This enjoyment fulfills my human life and Christian life. Then it becomes no longer I but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20). He has already lived the perfect human life and will live it again through me. So the local churches in my experience, are the recovery of Christ as my enjoyment in all His different aspects as revealed in the sixty-six books of the Bible. As a human being, it is normal for me to need God, to enjoy Him, to love Him and be loved by Him, to live my human life by God's life within me.