This term summarizes the FIVE MARKS of the Christ Life. It is an attitude and alertness to guarantee that nothing touches your heart without first passing through your "Christ filter." We call the following five Biblical concepts the V Marks. They are the five absolutely essential response activities that must go on continually as we encounter every life situation. This is what our Lord did to please the Father! This is what we must do to please Christ Jesus. They "mark" the first steps that are essential if we are to follow in His steps (I Peter 2:21) and approach all of our live events as He did! We are:

We initiate this overcoming life-style when we begin to discern the Savior's highest intentions for our present life and future destiny in every thought, event, situation and circumstance we encounter. The good news is that we can start the process this very minute! Embracing the above "five cross checks"* lifts us in praise to a new level of Christ centered reality. We begin to experience a revelation atmosphere … a higher altitude … a supreme dimension. We expose ourselves to an exalted vision of spiritually beholding "His Face"! These rapturous and serene encounters creates the faith that enables us to overcome the world!!! (I John 5:3-5) We must ask ourselves, "to what glory is it to dwell in Jerusalem" … or anywhere on God's earth ... "and never see the face of the King?" (II Samuel 14:28) The Christ Life adventure is the only path on this planet that "puts" us in "the place" where we can behold "the face of the King!" To be "in Christ" is the open door that bids us to dream our greatest dreams. It is the window of ultimate potential beyond what we ask or think. It is the revelation that tells us how and why this created world works the way it does! It is to imagine, realize and capture the Lord's compelling possibilities of significance for our earthly journey! It is to drink deeply, even in our weakness, of the mystery of the Savior's exhilarating love! (II Corinthians 12:8-10; 13:4; Ephesians 3:20-21; Colossians 1:27 ) Above all … ahead of all ... in all … our most magnificent obsession should be "to live the Christ Life." The pilgrimage, effort and endurance to pursue this "Life," at whatever cost, will transform us to be one "like Him." We, too, shall live as He did … as a person who demonstrates Messiah Love and overcomes all things as we joyfully yield to the Father! The Christ Life Habit transforms you into a person who lives with Messiah Love. Living the Christ Life Habit to its fullest dimension demands the V Marks Habit!

* A pilot will never control his airplane unless he develops the skill of what we call "cross checking" his instruments. He must know his altitude, direction, speed, engine condition, navigation settings, trim, etc. all at the same time if he is to fly the plane with a master's touch. The more critical the state of flight (like landing at night in bad weather with one engine out, etc!) the faster and more comprehending the "cross check" must be! The pilot who has no effective "cross check" will lose control of his aircraft and crash. Similarly, the Disciple who ignores the V Marks will have marginal control of his life, be unsure of its purpose and eventually miss the runway of his or her greatest destination. Many Christians will never arrive or finish their mission. Many have already crashed! Remember our Lord's words … "I have … accomplished the work …" (John 17:4). Likewise, the Apostle Paul … " … I have finished the race (my mission) …" (II Timothy 4:7). How can one ever hope to finish their mission without the constant "cross checks" of the V Marks?

There are four words in Greek to get at the idea of what we Americans call love. Our use of love is so broad it can mean many things … some on target and some in error! AGAPE in the New Testament is the word meaning God love, the highest love that can be expressed (citation). It is pure in itself and "other" centered. Philao is the highest human affection (citation). Eros is not used in Scripture but it is part of our creation. Unfortunately it is usually thought of in a bad sense but this is too simplistic and incomplete. In addition to sexual desire, eros was used by the ancients in reference to a deep love for the beauty of a person, or, in the extreme, for beauty itself. There is also a sense of absorption with the loved by the lover that makes this the most self-centered of all the loves. The final word of the four is Storge, referring to the domestic or maternal love every human creature needs in order to survive into adulthood. It is not used in Scripture. It is the love of home and family that makes one's life familiar, comfortable and pleasant. These four dimensions of love were given us in our creation as sons and daughters of the earth. All four should be understood, used and submitted to the Lordship of Christ. Each of the four has a part to play if we are to reach our zenith as a new creation (II Cor. 5:17). All four "put" together with the fire of the Holy Spirit transforms a person into an agent of Messiah Love. The Father loves us in all four ways and so are we to love others (citation) and the life he has given us on earth (citation).

(See C.S. Lewis's The Four Loves for an in depth treatment of this topic.)

This is the term the Lord gave me to describe the goal, purpose, fruit and heart of living the Christ Life. To "put" everything "in Christ" and live the Christ Life is not an end in itself. The point of Christ Life living is to produce, create and transform a person into one whose heart for being alive is full of Messiah Love. No two words define more accurately or completely the mission of Jesus and those who follow Him. Christ Jesus saw everyone He met as a "target of opportunity," a needer of His love, a seeker of anointed leadership - A helpless sheep, a blinded sinner, a simple fool, a potential son or daughter, etc. He was sent as the Father's Messiah (Anointed One) to mankind (John 1:1-18). He was to demonstrate this authority by pure and holy love alone (Isaiah 53).

We were created and recreated to also be beings of Messiah Love. To miss this is to be blind to the zenith of "Christ in you, your hope and confidence of glory and significance." No greater thought, image, vision, expectation, contentment or fullness can come to a child of Adam than to see and comprehend the Creator-Redeemer's revelation of Messiah Love displayed to us in the Person of our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ! He is the Second Adam Who is creating new beings to inhabit His coming Kingdom.

When the Apostle Paul declared "… for me to live is Christ." (Philippians 1:21), I believe he was thinking of all that Messiah Love meant to him, to the Father and to others. To be consumed and mastered with that one purpose made Paul an overcomer and master of all else on earth! So shall it ever be for the remnant that chooses the one thing most needful … abandonment to Jesus only! (Luke 10:42).

Paul's fullest summary of Messiah Love, as our ultimate life goal while on earth, is seen in Ephesians 3:14-21, "… and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this (Messiah) love that surpasses knowledge … that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!" Once a Christian embraces this incredible invitation and call from the Father and determines to live as a person of Messiah Love, earth life is radically and forever changed. The wonder of such an invitation and challenge leaves one stunned. Yet the reality and pull of the spiritual revelation within us sets for us a new direction, a higher purpose, a fresh daily discipline and a deeper journey. To be alive with Messiah Love is to be and do what Jesus desires most for our lives … that we repeat His (John 20:21). To know that we are now sent and potentially empowered as He was will change every dream, every hope, every relationship and every circumstance. Life is only life as the Father intended when it is infused with and controlled by Messiah Love. Every true disciple of Chris has been anointed to love like God!!! (John 10:17-18; 15:9-13).

These three titles are given our Lord as the fullest description of His message, His person and His destiny. (Luke 1:76; Hebrews 5:16; Revelation 17:14). Here again we are to follow in His steps. A prophet's primary function is not to foretell the future but to forthtell the TRUTH. Each of us has a given TRUTH message from the Father that is uniquely ours. We must deepen it, polish it, expand it and tell it (Ephesians 4:3-11). We are also priests who minister to others, to the Father and to self (I Peter 2:9). We are to demonstrate our potentate authority in Christ and live as one who reigns in life as a King, a Potentate (first leader) over our circumstances (Romans 5:17, 8:37; II Corinthians 2:14-17, 7:4). We communicate all we can as a prophet. We comfort all we can as a priest. We conquer all we can as a king.

A person becomes a "Putter"* by learning to put every life issue … be it a relationship, a loss, a blessing, a betrayal, an addiction, a triumph, a hard situation … in Christ. A "Putter" is a Disciple who continually processes reality with the V Marks of the Christ Life. A "Putter" increasingly becomes a person who personifies Messiah Love toward every person, event or personal circumstance they encounter.

Note: We are not speaking of the putter used in a golf game. However the putter is designed to make the most precise shots in golf. To miss the hole is to diminish the excellence of the player! The Disciple who is sloppy about "putting" every shot where necessary to "hit the target" demonstrates his excellence for Christ.

*"Putter" is a coined word adding er to put and is pronounced with the same long u sound in put.

Every source of light is a triunity. The sun is heat source … we feel it. The sun is a light source … we see it. The sun is a catalyst for chemical reactions … we experience the effects of it without seeing or feeling it. The presence of chemical reactions is revealed over time as the result of an action which produces change. Your good sun tan might also produce skin cancer, etc., etc. Dozens of triune illustrations are readily at hand. Every human ritual or natural creation can only be confronted and overcome by "seeing" its threefold reality. What you think or what the other person thinks is always trumped by what God thinks! A triune Disciple learns to "put" ... or connect ...the three parts of every issue or circumstance within the Lordship of Christ.

Reality presents itself to us in many triune forms. All reality must be grasped by humans in a threefold context. This process seems self evident to me both in nature and Scripture. A person's grasp of "what is" must be built on God's revelation of Himself in threefold images or relationships. God reveals Himself as Father, Son and Spirit. Time is past, present and future. Relationships are built on you, the other person and the content between you. There are three kingdoms of matter - mineral, vegetable and animal. In our normal experience, very element in the world has its triple point as it can become a gas, a solid or a liquid depending on the temperature. For more on this see VFC Definition "The Realities of Three."

If you see all three aspects of every issue you see reality with the single eye of truth. Blurred vision cannot react with exactness and speed. The more you develop your triune vision the greater grasp you have of every situation and the more light you put on the issue or question at hand. Triune perception removes the darkness of the lie and increases the liberating light of truth. Our Lord desires that our whole body and being be full of light (Luke 11:33-36). "I AM the Light of the world, he who follows Me shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). That "light of life" is to discover that the Lord is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing) and omnipresent (all around) or, put another way, being a triune Disciple brings God into whatever matter concerns you. It is then we live in "high praise" realizing that the savior is always aware, always able and always available!

In writing about the "in Christ" realities that are the inheritance of the Disciple I use the terms A-Life, O-Life, and Z-Life! I base this on Revelation 1:8 and I John 2:12-14. I use the term U-Life for the unbeliever (II Corinthians 4:4).

Our Lord calls Himself the Alpha and Omega. These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet or A to Z in English. If He is the A through Z about life, we need to know and apply each and every letter of Truth! Our calling is to learn the depth of Jesus from A to Z. Beginners know the ABC's of a matter and are just getting started. They are the "children" who live the A-Life!

As one grows in Christ the M-N-O-P's come into play and a fuller grasp of all that Jesus is begins to impact our thought processes! These "young men" (adults) live the O-Life.

Every true Believer is in one of these stages. All know the A-Life. Many live the O-Life. Only a few enter the abundance of the Z-Life. Pursuing the Christ Life will enable us to be a "father" and "mother" in Israel. Who knows how far our faith will carry us into the X-Y-Z's of living in the Spirit if we increasingly yield (Romans 8:2)! It is Z-Life Christianity that most powerfully touches the world with Messiah Love and changes.

The U-Life is lived by those who are unaware, unconscious, unsaved or unawakened to the consciousness of Jesus Christ as their Creator, Savior and Lord. Their thinking is ultimately futile and their hearts are darkened. Their wisdom is foolishness as they create their own insignificant idols while rejecting the significance of God in Christ (Rom. 1:22-24).

There are many "good, sincere and earnest" people living the U-Life not just the visibly ungodly. Even the U-Life has it's A-O-Z levels. God uses U-Lifers to bless the saints and others. But in the last analysis, their rejection of Jesus makes them enemies of the Cross of Christ (I Corinthians 1:18; Philippians 3:18). These U-A-O-Z-Life designations are broad categories and should not be pushed legalistically. They simply indicate in a general way the direction and maturity of a person's life. Every Disciple lived in the sphere of one of these levels of maturity.

Z-Life Christians can easily slip back and make an A-Life response. Sometimes an A-Life Believer will make a Z-Life response. Mostly, however, we function primarily in one of these four levels of living! Christians at all three levels of A-O-Z-Life can easily yield to the flesh and make a U-Life decision. U-Life people often do "good things" for other people, even "great things", but it all falls short of eternal life! Our goal is not to analyze the U-A-O-Z mix but to be sure our sights are set on achieving the Z-Life vision of following the Lord Jesus!

Please note a fascinating insight from the pen of the beloved Apostle in I John 2. He has two things to say about the children (A-Lifers). As young children (sons) they know the meaning of forgiveness. As those who are first born children they know the love and security of their parents. This is all children need to know … Mother and Dad love me and forgive me!

The young men, the adults (O-Lifers) are commended for three things. They are 1)learning to be overcomers (2:13) and this is possible because 2) they have learned the secret of God's strength (by experiencing His love) and 3) the Word of God remains in them. (See VFC Update article on the "Doctrine of Put, part 2"). These young men and women have learned their A-B-C truth of loving the Lord and knowing His forgiveness and now enjoy their M-N-O-P status of truly contending and winning battles by finding strength, knowing Scripture and defeating Satan in their life.

The "fathers" (Z-Lifers) are being exposed to the big picture and marveling at the stunning plan the Lord has been carrying out all along! They are recipients of the X-Y-Z's of the Mind of the Master. Only one thing need be said to characterize the "fathers" … they have known "the One" who is from the beginning! The Greek for knowing here indicated to rely, to come to know, to take it all in! To truly know "the One" who began it all is to be one who overcomes it all!!

There are THREE WORDS — not just one: The Written Word - the Bible (Logos), the Living Word - the Christ (toyos) and the Spirit Word - the Warrior (phya).

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