Week 9 The Experience of Life
LESSON NINE
THE SENSE OF LIFE
Hymn 738
Scripture Reading:
Eph. 4:19 Who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness in greediness.
Rom. 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
THE FEELING OF DEATH
Weakness, Emptiness, Uneasiness, Restlessness, Depression, Dryness,
Darkness, Pain, Etc.—on the Negative Side
The sense of life on the negative side is the feeling of death, a kind of negative feeling. This is definitely revealed in Romans 8:6. We have to realize Romans 8:6 is altogether a verse of sensation because it says the mind set on the flesh is death. This is not only a fact, but it is also matter of feeling, a matter of consciousness. When you set your mind on the flesh, you have the sense of death. You feel that death is there.
The feeling of death is the inner feeling of weakness, emptiness, uneasiness, restlessness, depression, dryness, darkness, pain, etc.—on the negative side (Rom.8:6a). When you sense that you are weak, empty, uneasy, restless, depressed, dried up, darkened, and in pain within, this indicates that death is there. When death is here, this means that you have set your mind on the flesh. The mind is the key of our daily walk. The key opens the gate for us to walk on the way. To set the mind on the flesh simply means to open the gate of the flesh and to walk the fleshly way. Thus, when you sense death is here, you have to realize that you are living, walking, in the flesh. This is the negative function of the sense of life.
THE FEELING OF LIFE AND PEACE
Strength, Satisfaction, Peace, Rest, Release, Liveliness, Watering,
Brightness, Comfort, Etc.—on the Positive Side
On the positive side the sense of life functions to give us a consciousness of the following positive things—strength, satisfaction, peace, rest, release, liveliness, watering, brightness, comfort, etc. (Rom. 8:6b). Instead of being weak, we are strong. Instead of being empty, we are satisfied. Instead of uneasiness and restlessness, we have peace and rest. Instead of depression, we have release and liveliness. Liveliness is a kind of condition of livingness. We have a sense of watering versus dryness, brightness versus darkness, and comfort versus pain. All these are the positive feelings we have from the function of the sense of life. When we have these kinds of feelings, we have to realize that this is the working of the sense of life.
Thus, in Romans 8:6 the main thing that is implied is the sense of life. To set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. This is altogether a matter of sensation and consciousness. This consciousness is the sense of life. It functions not only to guide us but also to govern us, to control us, and to direct us. The feeling of death and the feeling of life and peace are the two aspects of the meaning of the sense of life.
THE SENSE OF LIFE BEING RELATED TO
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE CONSCIENCE
On both the negative side and the positive side, the sense of life is always related to the consciousness of the conscience. Ephesians 4:19 says that the unbelievers are “past feeling.” “Feeling” here refers mainly to the consciousness of one’s conscience. The unbelievers in general do not care for the feeling of their conscience. The most careless people concerning their inner feeling are the most sinful people. The unbelievers who endeavor to be good persons surely would take care of their inner feeling. Just to be governed by the law, by the police, is not up to the moral standard. Even with the unbelievers, the moral standard must be according to the inner feeling of their conscience. Of course, the sense of life, for a believer, is not simply a matter of the conscience, but it is related to the consciousness of the conscience according to the sense of life, the life of God.
THE FUNCTION OF THE SENSE OF LIFE
Making Us Know Whether We Are Living in the Natural Life or in the Divine Life
If we are living in the natural life, the sense is of death and is entirely on the negative side. Then we have the feeling of death with all of its negative points. If we are living in the divine life, the sense is of life and peace with all of its positive points. The sense of life makes us know whether we are living in the natural life or in the divine life. The sense of life guides us, governs us, controls us, and directs us. This truth has been altogether lost in today’s Christianity. Most of the teachings of today’s Christianity are focused on morality and good behavior. They do not care for this inner sense of life functioning to make us know whether we are living in the natural life or in the divine life. Since we are seeking after Christ as our life, we must take care of this sense of life. If we do not have the positive sensations of strength, satisfaction, peace, rest, release, liveliness, watering, brightness, comfort, etc., we must realize that we are not living in the divine life; it must be that we are living in the natural life.
Making Us Know Whether We Are Living in the Flesh or in the Spirit
The function of the sense of life is also to make us know whether we are living in the natural life or in the divine life. To live in the natural life is one thing, and to live in the flesh is another thing. You may consider these are one, but still there is a little difference. The flesh is always bad. There is no good flesh. But the natural life sometimes may be good. The natural life is versus the divine life, and the flesh is versus the spirit.
Therefore, there are two aspects concerning the function of the sense of life. The first aspect is to let you know whether you are living in the divine life, and the second aspect is to let you know whether you are living in your spirit. Negatively speaking, it makes you know whether you are living in the natural life, as a natural person, and also whether you are living in the flesh. In our experience we always can differentiate these two things. Many times we have the sense that we are living, walking, and acting in the flesh. Sometimes we are not that fleshly, but still we have the sense that we are walking in our natural life, in our natural man, not in the divine life.
Before we speak this lesson to the saints, we need much prayer to get into these points. This lesson should not be a mere doctrine of knowledge according to the letter. It must be something of life from our experience. We need much prayer to pray ourselves into the sense of life. Then we can give a word not merely in teaching but practically in fellowship. Our message will be a kind of fellowship, telling people how we have experienced these things, how the sense of life is so real and practical to us, and how we are under this kind of controlling, guiding, directing element within us day by day. (Basic Lessons on Life, ch. 11)
Reference: Basic Lessons on Life, lsn. 11. CWWL, (1963) Vol. 3, Basic Principles of the Experience of Life, ch. 4.
