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THE SENSE OF LIFE
We have seen what life is and what the experience of life is. We have also seen the first experience of life, which is regeneration, and the various things that are gained through regeneration. Now that we have seen these, we can come to the matter of the sense of life.
The sense of life, as far as we are concerned, is very subjective, personal, and practical. Therefore, if we are to have any pursuit in life, we must pay attention to this sense of life and know it well. All those who have the experience of life know the deep relationship that exists between the sense of life and the experience of life. Therefore, if we would investigate the subject of the knowledge of life, we must look into the matter of the sense of life.
THE SCRIPTURAL BASIS
Although the Bible does not mention explicitly the sense of life, yet it actually speaks of the matter. Romans 8:6 says, “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” This verse speaks very clearly concerning the sense of life, for the peace mentioned here is clearly a matter of consciousness. This peace does not refer to the outward environment but to the inward condition; therefore, it is definitely a matter of feeling. Since the peace mentioned here is a matter of feeling, the death and life mentioned here are also a matter of feeling.
The sense of death causes us to sense the element of death. The elements of death are: weakness, emptiness, depression, darkness, and pain. Death includes at least these five elements, and the sum total of these elements is largely equivalent to death. Death causes men to become weak; and when men become extremely weak, they die. Death causes men to become empty, because death ends everything. Death causes men to become depressed and downhearted; the most depressed and silent ones are the dead ones. Death also darkens men; those in the deepest darkness are those who have entered into death. At the same time, death causes men to suffer pain; one who suffers the most pain is one who has fallen into death. All of these are the elements of death; therefore, when we sense these, we sense death.
These senses of death are results of our minding the flesh. Whenever we mind the flesh, we will immediately have these feelings of death. For example, if on the Lord’s Day you mind the flesh a little in the afternoon, when you come to the bread-breaking meeting in the evening, you will feel weak inside and unable to rise up. At the same time, you will feel empty, depressed, and perhaps even dark and in pain. All these feelings are the senses of death. Sometimes you sense one stronger than the other; sometimes you sense them all evenly. Nevertheless, it is due to our minding the flesh that we sense death.
The sense of life is just the opposite of the sense of death. The sense of death makes us feel weak and empty, whereas the sense of life makes us feel strong and satisfied. The sense of death makes us feel depressed, dark, and in pain. The sense of life makes us feel lively, bright, and comfortable. Because the sense of life makes us feel strong, satisfied, lively, bright, and comfortable, it causes us also to have the sense of peace, that is, to feel good and at ease.
We should realize that the things mentioned in Romans 8:6 are all in contrast with each other. The flesh is in contrast with the spirit, and death is in contrast with life and peace. The opposite of death is not only life but also peace. Therefore, death includes not only weakness, emptiness, depression, and darkness, but it also includes pain. Weakness, emptiness, depression, and darkness are in contrast with life, whereas pain is in contrast with peace.
The sense of death is due to our minding the flesh, whereas the sense of life and peace is due to our minding the spirit. When we live in the spirit, follow the spirit, and set our mind on the spirit, we feel strong and satisfied within; at the same time we also feel lively, bright, comfortable, and at ease. For example, if the Holy Spirit gives you a feeling, and you mind and obey it, you will feel strong and satisfied within; at the same time you will feel lively, bright, comfortable, and at ease. Thus, you will have the feeling of life and peace, because you mind the spirit.
The reason Romans 8:6 mentions the sense of life is that it has mentioned three things previously: the Spirit, life, and the law of life. The Spirit is in us and becomes one spirit with our spirit: life is included in the Spirit as the content of the Spirit, and the law is the natural ability and function of life. These three joined together become the law of the Spirit of life, which is responsible in us for all matters of life, giving us a certain sense anytime and anywhere. Whenever we set our mind on the spirit and act and live according to the spirit, this law gives us the feeling of life and peace. To sense life is to feel strong, satisfied, lively, bright, and fresh. To sense peace is to feel comfortable, at ease, good, and natural. If we set our mind on the flesh and act and live according to the flesh, this law will give us the sense of death; that is, we will feel weak, empty, depressed, dark, and in pain.
Therefore, what Romans 8:6 speaks of is wholly a matter of consciousness, and this consciousness is given to us by the law of the Spirit of life. Since the law of the Spirit of life belongs to life, the consciousness that it gives also belongs to life. Therefore, since the consciousness mentioned in Romans 8:6 is given to us by this law, it belongs to the sense of life.
The second place in the Scriptures concerning the matter of the sense of life is in Ephesians 4:19, which says that the Gentiles “being past feeling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness in greediness.” This says that the reason the people in the world commit sin and do wickedness at will is that they have forsaken all feelings. Indeed, when man sins and does wickedness, he must have already forsaken the feelings within him. When a man sins and does wickedness, we cannot say that he has no feeling, but at least we can say that he has laid aside his feelings. If one does not lay aside the feelings, if one is restricted by the inner feelings, do you think he can still commit sin and do wickedness? All who sin and do wickedness are those who have laid aside their feelings. Anyone who commits sin and does wickedness must lay aside his feelings. When anyone cheats, steals, beats others, robs others, or does any other bad and evil deeds, he must lay aside his feelings. The more one commits sin and does wickedness, the more he must lay aside the inner consciousness. Therefore, an evil, wicked man is void of feelings, whereas a good and kind person is rich in feeling.
Now, whose inner sense is stronger, a Christian’s or an unbeliever’s? If we compare Christians and unbelievers, is our consciousness stronger, or is theirs? We must answer that our feelings are much stronger, because, in addition to the feelings they have, we have the feelings of life within us, which they do not have. Therefore, if we sin and commit wickedness, we must have laid aside our feelings even more severely than they. For this very reason the Scriptures exhort us not to cast aside all feelings as do the unbelievers. The Scriptures thus beseech us that we might take care of our inner sense. This of course emphasizes heeding the inner sense of life. After Ephesians 4 exhorts us not to be like the unbelievers who cast aside all feelings, it goes on to say that we are to put off the old man and put on the new man. This new man belongs to the life in the Spirit. In order to live in this new man, we must live in the life that is in the Spirit. Therefore, Ephesians 4 exhorts us not to forsake all feelings as the unbelievers do, but to live in this new man. This means that we must live in the life that is in the Spirit, take care of the sense of life in the Spirit, and live according to this sense of life.
Furthermore, almost all the Epistles of the apostles have words of blessing and greeting in which grace and peace are mentioned. Grace is God gained by us, and peace is the feeling of having gained God. God gained by us to become our life and for us to enjoy is grace. This grace within us results in peace; it causes us to have a feeling of peacefulness within. A person who experiences God, enjoys the life of God, and tastes the power of the life of God daily is bound to have peace within him. This peace is the feeling he has when he enjoys grace. Therefore, if we do not have peace within, or we do not quite feel the peace, it proves that we are short of grace. When we are short of grace, it means that we are short of God. Since we have not gained God sufficiently within us, have not obtained enough supply of the life of God, and have not sufficiently experienced the power of the life of God, we are short of peace within. If we have gained enough of God within us and have experienced God and the life of God sufficiently, we will have enough peace within. This peace is not peace in the environment, but a condition of peace within. We must believe that the peace mentioned in the greetings of the apostles is this kind of inner peace. Inner peace is a matter of consciousness. When the apostles wished that the people might have peace, it means that they wished the people might have the peace of the inner sense, or peace within. The inner sense of peace is the sense of life. Therefore, when they expressed their wish that the people might have the feeling of peace within, they wanted them to pay attention to the inner sense of life.
THE SOURCE OF THE SENSE OF LIFE
Where does the sense of life that we are speaking of come from? From what is it produced? It is produced from the things we have gained through regeneration—the life of God, the law of life, the Holy Spirit, Christ, and God. The life of God, the law of life, the Holy Spirit, Christ, and God cause us to have a feeling within, and this feeling is what we call the sense of life.
Every life has its feelings. Furthermore, the stronger the life is, the keener its feelings are. The life of God is the strongest life; therefore, when this life is in us it causes us not merely to have feelings, but to have strong feelings.
Since the law of life is derived from life, it also has feelings. Therefore, this law that is in us causes us to have feelings, especially when we disobey it. For example, when our body is normal, there is hardly any special feeling. But when it becomes sick, there is a strong feeling, and this strong feeling occurs when we disobey the law that is within the body. Similarly, when we obey the law of life, it does not give us much feeling, but when we disobey it, it gives very distinct feelings.
The Holy Spirit as ointment is anointing and moving in us; Christ is living in us with activity; and God is working in us. All three are in us with activity and action. They are not quiet and motionless; therefore, they all cause us to have feelings.
Thus, whether it be the life of God, the law of life, or the Holy Spirit, Christ, and God within us, they all cause us to have feelings. And they are mingled together in giving us feelings. Therefore, the feelings derived from all five are not five kinds of feelings, but one feeling, that is, the sense of life, which we are speaking of.
Why is it that the feelings derived from these five—the life of God, the law of life, the Holy Spirit, Christ, and God—are just one kind of feeling? And why is this feeling the sense of life? It is because the Holy Spirit, Christ, and God are the Triune God; the life of God is God Himself; and the law of life comes out from this life of God. Therefore, strictly speaking, these five are one. Therefore, when they are in us, the feelings they give us are of one kind. The reason that this feeling is the feeling of life is that it is derived from the Triune God of life, the life of God, and the law of life. The main purpose of the Triune God in us is to be our life, and this life includes the law of life. Therefore, the feelings that they cause us to have are derived from life and belong to life; hence, they are the sense of life. This sense is one, but it has five aspects. It is derived from the life of God, and it is derived from the law of the life of God; therefore, it has the nature of the life of God and the function of the law of God’s life as well. At the same time, this sense is also derived from the Holy Spirit, Christ, and God; therefore, it contains the element of the Holy Spirit anointing in us, the element of Christ living in us, and the element of God working and accomplishing His will in us. Because of these various aspects, this sense is rich, strong and keen; it is even richer, stronger, and keener than the best sense among the unbelievers. The best feelings that unbelievers can have are but the created sense of goodness in human beings. But besides the created sense of goodness, this sense of life is a divine sense added into us by the things that we have gained through regeneration.
THE FUNCTION OF THE SENSE OF LIFE
What then is the function or use of this sense of life? The function or use of the sense of life is to let us know continuously where we are living. Are we living in the natural life or in the life of the Spirit? Are we living in the flesh or in the spirit? This is what the sense of life makes known to us continuously, and it is for this that we have the sense of life. Therefore, the sense of life in us leads and proves us. If we follow the sense of life, we follow the leading God gives us, and at the same time, we receive a verification of where we are living.
Now we will apply what we have said. The sense of death makes known to us that we are not living in the spirit but in the flesh. Once we have the sense of death, we should know that we are not in the spirit but in the flesh. The sense of death includes weakness, emptiness, depression, darkness, and pain. Once we have such feelings, it means the sense of life in us is making known that we are already not right, that we are already not living in the spirit but in the flesh.
Then, what feeling does the sense of life give so that we know we are right before God and living in the spirit? It gives us the feeling of life and peace, or, in other words, it makes us feel strong, satisfied, lively, bright, and comfortable. Whenever we feel strong, satisfied, lively, bright, and comfortable within, we have inward proof that we are right before God and that we are living in the spirit.
Therefore, the sense of life within us has a great function. It is there continuously leading us, making known to us where we should live; and it continuously proves to us where we are now living. It is this sense that leads us on in life; it is also this sense that continuously proves and reveals to us our real condition in life. Hence, it is our leading and testimony within. Whenever it causes us to feel inward life and peace, it proves that we have no problem in life. Whenever it makes us feel void of life and peace, it proves we have some problem in life.
You may say that you do not have the sense of life and peace within you, and neither do you have the sense of no life or no peace; you do not have the sense of being strong, satisfied, lively, bright, or comfortable, and neither do you have the sense of not being strong, satisfied, lively, bright, or comfortable. To be in such a condition proves you have a problem. We must positively have the sense of life and peace. We must feel strong, satisfied, lively, bright, comfortable, and at ease within; then all is well. Although at times God wants to lead us out of our feelings and cause us to enter, as it were, into a cave, yet even in the cave we still have the sense of life and peace in our deepest part. Although the outward feelings are gone, there is still the feeling of life and peace in the deepest part.
Life and peace are the positive feelings that the sense of life gives us within, thus proving that our condition in life is normal. Weakness and uneasiness are the negative feelings that the sense of life gives us within, thus proving that we have some problem in life. The feelings both of weakness and uneasiness are the sense of death. The sense of death definitely comes from minding the flesh and touching anything outside of God. Every sense of death proves that we are more or less minding the flesh, and that we have touched to some extent the things outside of God. Therefore, whether we are minding the flesh, whether we are living in the spirit, and whether we are touching God, all depends upon the life and peace or weakness and uneasiness within us. If there is life and peace within, it proves that we are living in the spirit, we are touching God. If we feel weak and uneasy within, it proves that we are fleshly minded and are touching things outside of God.
It is not necessary that a Christian should never feel weak, but even when he feels weak, he should still feel powerful. He feels weak because he has come to know himself; he feels powerful because he touches Christ and knows Christ as his life. If we continually feel only weakness and never feel strong, something is wrong. The apostle Paul says that when he is weak, then he is powerful (2 Cor. 12:10). A powerful person, even though he feels his own weakness, does not mind that weakness. If we always mind our weakness and cannot be powerful, it proves we have a problem. It may be that we are more or less in the flesh, for weakness is a sense of death, and the sense of death always comes from minding the flesh.
A Christian can be weak yet feel strong; he can feel pain yet have the sense of peace. He feels pain because he meets affliction from without; he has the sense of peace because he meets the Lord and touches the Lord from within. If we meet affliction from without, yet inwardly we have no peace, something is wrong. The Lord said that in the world we have affliction, but in Him we have peace (John 16:33). One who lives in the Lord, or one who lives in the spirit, may meet much affliction from without, yet inwardly he still has peace; otherwise, it proves that he is not living in the spirit. If we lack inward peace while in affliction, it proves that we are not living in the spirit; then if while having no affliction we also have no inward peace, it is even more of a proof that we are not living in the spirit.
Therefore, concerning our condition in life, whether we are fleshly minded or spiritually minded, whether we are living in the flesh or living in the spirit, it is proved and made known to us through the sense of life. It is through this kind of proving that the sense of life gives us guidance from within. Only if we follow the guidance of this kind of proving can we live in life. Therefore, if we desire to go on in life, we must pay attention to the proving and leading that this sense of life gives us from within.