THE SENSE OF LIFE

I. Through regeneration, God becomes our life and enters into our spirit. I John 1:2-3; 5:12

A. We have been regenerated because we have received Christ as our life into our spirit. God’s life becomes our new life and we are born children of God.

B. A baby is happy when fed with sweet milk and cries when fed with bitter food because life has a sense. Since the spirit of all regenerated believers contains the Spirit of God as their life, every believer has a new sense of life.

II. This sense of life is different from that of the old creation. 2 Cor. 5:17

A. Before we received Christ we belong to the old creation. In the old creation we only possessed a human life – earthly life.

B. The sense of human life is earthly. Therefore, in the old creation we only love ourselves and care for the things of this world. We do love God and do not care for the things of God.

C. At the time we accepted Christ we received God’s life. This new life that we have brought us into the new creation. In the new creation we possessed a divine life – heavenly life. In this new realm of life, human life is mingled with the divine life.

D. The sense of the divine life is heavenly. Therefore, in the new creation we lose our taste for satanic, sinful, evil and worldly things and pleasures. We love God and care for the things of God. The Lord becomes our enjoyment and pleasure and satisfaction instead of the world. The Lord becomes so precious and means everything to us.

III. We love the brothers and sisters because of this new life – I John 5:1; 3:14

A. We received God’s new life through regeneration and have been begotten children of God.

B. We love God because He has begotten us. We also love the brothers and sisters in the Lord because they also have been begotten of God. We all belong to the heavenly family. God is our Father and we are His Children. We are partakers of the same life – God’s divine life. In God’s family we, the believers, are all brothers and sisters in the Lord.

C. God’s life is a life that loves. That is why it is very spontaneous for us to love God as well as the brothers and sisters. God’s life is our divine capacity to love one another. Now we love to be with God and to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Tim. 2:22).

IV. When we do, speak or think about the Lord and the things of the Lord, this life will give us joy and peace. Rom. 8:6; 13

A. We feel joyful and peaceful every time we serve Him, preach Him and set our mind on Him because all of these match God’s life within our spirit. Therefore, we need to call on the Lord’s name heartily, pray in the spirit unceasingly, read His word daily, sing spiritual songs joyfully, meet with the brothers and sisters regularly, and preach the gospel of God zealously that we may live a life full of joy and peace.

V. When we do, speak or think things not according to the Lord’s things, this life will give us a feeling of unrest. Rom. 8:6, 13

A. Whenever we set our mind on the flesh there is a sense of deadness and darkness. We feel unhappy, anxious, and troubled every time we do, speak or think of ungodly things because these are contrary to the nature of God’s life we received.

B. Regenerated Christians like us should have only one kind of living – living according to the life of Christ. We should not be like the people in today’s degraded Christianity having two kinds of living. They are good actors and actresses. During their worship service they pretend to act like angels but outside they live another kind of life – a life that expresses sin, self, world and Satan.

C. We should exercise and make it our habit to have only one kind of living. Whether we are in the church meeting, or at home, or in our work, still, we live Christ. Christians should have a living that magnifies Christ.

VI. If you feel a lack of peace, repent to the Lord, pray and recover the fellowship of life immediately, so that you have a sense of peace. 1 John 1:7-9

A. We Christians should have only one life to live. We should only live Christ. That is why we need to have constant fellowship with Him that He may be our life and living. If we are short of peace it means that something is wrong. We do not have a healthy fellowship with Christ our life. Just like if our hand swells it means that something is wrong, it does not have healthy fellowship with the life in the body.

B. Maybe we are cut from the fellowship of God’s life because we have done, seen, thought or spoken something sinful. Sin is an obstacle between God and man. Therefore, we need right away to recover the fellowship by praying and confessing. The Lord is faithful and righteous to forgive all our sins and cleanse us with His blood from all our unrighteousness, once we directly confess our sins to Him. Because the world where we live is dirty, we need daily washing to maintain good health. In the same principle, to maintain a healthy spiritual life, we need daily washing of our sins by establishing a daily life of thorough repenting prayer and confession.

VII. We should rejoice always, pray unceasingly and give thanks to the Lord in everything to keep the fellowship with the Lord and keep the sense of life and peace. 1 Thes. 5:16-19

A. We should avoid the sense of deadness and feeling of unrest by always being one with the Lord. We should rejoice in the Lord always, pray unceasingly and give thanks to Him in everything whether in blessings or in bad things for it is the will of God for us – all things work together for good to those who love God and called according to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28).

B. Every success in life has a secret. The secret of a meaningful, joyful, and peaceful life is by living a life that is not apart from God but one spirit with the Lord always. A life without Christ is hell but a life full of Christ is heaven.