Where Am I?, Ivan Wang

Where am I? What am I doing here? Do you ever ask yourself either or both of these questions? I'm sure, at one time or another, you've wondered what the purpose of your life is here on earth. Are we just born by some kind of fate, have a fun and happy childhood, go to college, get a job, get married and have a family, retire and take care of our grandchildren, pass away, and then go to so-called heaven based on whether we were a good person during our life time? Where on earth am I? And what on earth am I doing here?

I presently live in Southern California but was raised in a Christian family in London, Ontario, Canada. For my entire life thus far (well, I'm only 27), I have been meeting with Christians in the local church. Watchman Nee and Witness Lee had a large part in raising up over 3000 local churches through the earth today. Their ministry is fully in line with the apostles' teaching as recorded in the Bible.

Through this ministry, I realized God's eternal purpose and heart's desire in creating man which is to dispense Himself into His believers and to make Himself one with man and man one with Him to be His expression for the building up of the Body of Christ which is the church. Through our lifetime, every day we need to seek to have more of God's life and nature imparted into us until we are fully constituted with Him and are perfect even as He is (Matthew 5:48). During my lunch time a few days ago at work, I was reading a book written by Watchman Nee. The chapter I was reading was titled "Spiritual Progress." The main point, or burden, of the chapter was that spiritual progress means to have more of God's essence added to us, and the decreasing of things we like/love that usurp us and take us away from God. Even with my being a Christian my whole life, this was very enlightening to read again because this is truly what God desires.

In the local church, I have come to know and experience that Christ is my life and everything. As a Christian, nothing in my life happens by chance, but all situations and circumstances, whether favorable or unfavorable, are arranged by God according to His plan and way for me in order that I can gain and experience Him. As hard as things may be sometimes, we just have to believe it. There is a quote I really like that was written by Watchman Nee: “If God leads you to walk a way that you know, it will not benefit you as much as if He would lead you to take the way that you do not know. This forces you to have hundreds and thousands of conversations with Him, resulting in a journey that is an everlasting memorial between you and Him.”

You know what is awesome, too, about my experience in the local church? No matter which locality I am visiting, whether it be here in California, or New York City, Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, London, Toronto, Taiwan, or even Russia, we all are one and are pursuing the same thing--Christ. Physically, we are located in a foreign land or country, but in Christ we are all one, just one big family. It's like we never left home! When I meet with the brothers and sisters, just enjoying Christ, singing and praising His name, I love it!

So, being in the local church, my two questions have been personally answered. Where am I?--I'm on earth in the church. What am I doing here? - I'm following the unique revelation of the Bible in order that I may be constituted with the life and nature of God for His expression and expansion here on earth.