As a freshman at a Christian university, I was given an article by Watchman Nee entitled, “Why This Waste?” It was based on the account in Matthew 26 of Mary taking precious ointment and anointing the head of Jesus. The response of the disciples was “Why this waste?” saying that the ointment should have been sold and the money given to the poor. But Jesus said she had done a noble deed in anointing Him for His burial. After reading the article I prayed with tears that the Lord would receive me, my life, and all my living as such an ointment to be poured out on Him. I realized that my friends and family might consider such a life a waste, but I knew this was what the Lord desired from me and for me. With this as the base of my consecration to the Lord, I proceeded to follow and serve the Lord as faithfully as I could, giving myself to Bible study, church attendance, the gospel, and mission work near my campus during the fall and summer semesters. But there was a growing longing to fellowship with a group of consecrated believers who seriously sought and served the Lord. Two years later, after crying to the Lord in desperation for such fellowship with some believers, the Lord brought me to a small meeting in an apartment near my campus where a group of simple young people were praying with such genuineness and fervor that I immediately knew this was what I was seeking for and what the Lord desired me to be a part of. This would be the way for me to pour all that I had out on the Lord, not as a spiritual giant, but as a simple and hidden lover of Jesus being with others of a like heart. The Lord had brought me that night to a meeting of the local church.

That was thirty-four years ago, and I am happy to testify that such a life with such a people has been a life of blessing and without regret. Through the fellowship of His Body, the church, and the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, the Lord has given me a very normal life of Christian growth and service. The base of our fellowship with one another and with the Lord is personal and intimate prayer as well as time in the Lord’s Word early each morning. This, however, has not been an isolated or individualistic life, but a life of mutual support, comfort, and encouragement as we meet often to pray, fellowship and study the Bible together on the phone, over lunch, at work, in the parks while our children play, in our homes in the evening and in the local church meetings. Our family has been so blessed to be a practical part of the Body of Christ. Our personal life and our family life have been a normal blending of successes and failures and our children who are now grown are by the Lord’s grace, mercy and leading, profitable human beings, lovers of the Lord, and members of the church, which is His Body.

To enumerate all the experiences that I have known daily would fill volumes, because the Lord as a wonderful and living person has become a vital factor in every aspect of my daily life. The truths of the Bible are no longer vague and mysterious doctrines but are increasingly clear in my own experience. The Lord in His mercy and faithfulness took my consecration as a young person and brought me into a fellowship of believers where I could experience Christ, be built together with others in His Body, and be perfected by the excellent ministry of the Word through the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. Today the Bible is an open book full of life and truth to me, but it is not the result of my being a Bible scholar or a spiritual giant but because I remained here in this wonderful environment enjoying Christ, fellowshipping with the church and receiving the ministry of the Word.

J.L.

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