Have You Discovered the Principle of Life?

Have you discovered the principle of life?

Here’s how I did…

When I was a child, I was always taught to be good, to do the right thing–never to lie or  steal  and to always clear up my wrong doings.

I do thank God for my parents and for such an upbringing. It really preserved me.

Yet, all my best efforts to be right in everything and to clear up my wrong doings, left me full of anxiety.

I was missing something. Then one day I made an awesome discovery…

Discovering a new principle to live by–the principle of life

Through reading a little booklet by Watchman Nee entitled Two Principles of Living—the Principle of Life or the Principle of Right and Wrong, I found out that God intended something much higher for us.

God did not merely want us to be good,  but to live by a higher principle–the principle of life. That’s because it’s only this principle that will fill us with God’s life, so that we can express Him in our living.

I found out that as far as God was concerned, right and wrong, good and evil, were of the same source, they were from the “same tree”— “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” God said,

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17).

Eating from that tree, that is, living by the principle of right and wrong makes us independent from God. It separates us from God, just like Adam and Eve ate of that tree and lost God’s presence (Gen. 3:6-8).

That doesn’t mean that we can be careless or immoral. Rather, it means God wants something much higher than human morality. He wants us to live by His life.

He presented us with another tree to choose from–the tree of life and another principle to live by—the principle of life.

This life is the divine, eternal life of God. It’s the life signified by the tree of life in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:9a).

This life is the life in Jesus Christ, the life that is actually Christ Himself.   First John 5:11-12 says,

“God gave to us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life…”

To choose the tree of life, to follow the principle of life, is practically to be dependent on the Christ who lives in you.

In “the garden” with two trees to choose from

As believers, we’re in the same position as Adam—a triangular situation with two trees to choose from, two sources to draw from, two principles to live by.

If we make the same mistake that Adam and Eve made and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we’ll automatically find ourselves in a condition of spiritual death (Gen. 2:17;  Rom. 8:6a).

Honestly, this is default mode. Whenever we do things without contacting and enjoying Christ, by default we’re living by this deadening principle of right and wrong. We simply do what’s right in our own eyes, and act independently from God. We may even argue with others, insisting that “we’re right.”

On the other hand, if we choose the tree of God’s choice—the tree of life, we’ll feel enlivened and peaceful within (Rom. 8:6b). It becomes a matter of doing everything in the principle of dependence upon God, of contacting Christ in everything, even in ordinary, mundane things like driving or shopping.

Just consider.  Everything related to life is dependent. Take for example, breathing, drinking. and eating. We never graduate…or we’re dead. Spiritually, this indicates that the Lord wants us to continually breathe Him, drink Him, and eat Him (John 20:22; 7:37; 6:57).

Life or death–it’s your choice.

The real choice before us today is not a matter of right or wrong, but of life or death. Every day we need to make this choice.

This life-changing discovery of the principle of life is more real to me today than the day I first heard.

How about you? Have you made this discovery?

If so, then every day, even every hour and minute becomes an opportunity to choose life.

One of the simplest ways I found to choose life is to stop and call on the name of the Lord Jesus—“O Lord! Lord Jesus!” By calling on the Lord Jesus, you’ll breathe Him in, and live by the principle of life. Romans 10:12 says, “…the same Lord…is rich to all who call upon Him.”

I hope you’ll join me in building up a daily  practice of living by the principle of  life, of depending upon God’s life in you. In this way, Christ can grow in you and make His home in your heart so that God can be expressed in all your living.

“Lord Jesus, thank you for showing me the principle of life, a principle that  is higher than right and wrong. Thank you, that I can now live by You as my inner life.  Remind me to always turn to You and  care for the sense of Your life in my spirit. Lord Jesus, I love You.”

References and Further Reading:

• This post was inspired by Two Principles of Living—the Principle of Life or the Principle of Right and Wrong by Watchman Nee. You can read it online at  ministrybooks.org or get your free copy from Bibles for America. It’s the first chapter in Basic Elements of the Christian Life,Volume Three.
• Here are three hymns to enrich your appreciation of this post:
  • There are two lines to live by 
  •  In Eden’s garden fair we see and View Lyrics
  • There is a certain sense of life and View Lyrics
• Photo Credit: Two Trees by TrombaMarina (Creative Commons)