The Death of an Ordinary Christian Can Give People Peace and Inspire Them to Rise Up
This is a panic-stricken and uneasy generation. Some fear death, some long for death; some have died, some are living.
He often encouraged those around him: "Today that we are able to serve the Lord—how glorious! How worthwhile! Do not think that we do this or that; without the Lord's mercy, we can do nothing." The brother was a Christian of broad bosom and true love, neither pretentious nor given to empty talk, sparing nothing to cherish and care for those in need; people of every walk of life and of every kind were willing to fellowship with him, to open their hearts to him, and to be his friends. The brother treated others with humility, willing to esteem others higher; toward himself he was given mostly to self-mockery, even saying in a dry, humorous way that his "body has so many problems—it seems my sins are great, and I need to repent."
At the end of 2018, on an airplane, he suddenly suffered a myocardial infarction and his heart stopped beating. By great mercy in the midst of misfortune, this became what everyone called a wonderful salvation. Yet he asked himself: Why did the Lord keep me in the world? It would have been quite good to go—everything would have been finished! He mocked himself, saying that the reason the Lord did not want him to go was that he had not yet been sufficiently constituted with the truth, and still needed to live on to continue publishing and proclaiming the truth, to be constituted more with the Lord's word.
As soon as he came out of the hospital, he went to the meeting hall where this little one was, to promote the Collected Works of Witness Lee, asking how many could buy it. Seeing that not many raised their hands, he said humorously, "There must be no hesitating! Buy a set heartily and take it home as a family heirloom."
His departure brought sorrow to people, and it also let me, in this panic-stricken, uneasy generation where life and death are taken so lightly, see how the death of an ordinary Christian can give people peace and inspire them to rise up.
This is a generation both warm and cold. We do not need great spiritual men; we need ordinary people who are able to live out the human virtues. Brother Wu was just such a one. His many small acts moved many small members like this little one.
He lived out the virtue of the Lord Jesus Christ in denying Himself and loving others, like a gently flowing stream, moving many to learn to look to God, not to spare themselves, but to live for the Lord, to live because of the Lord, and to live unto the Lord. If more warm Christians like our brother appear in this generation, being salt and light on the earth, then the day of the Lord's return will be near!