Scripture Reading: John 1:4; Rom. 8:12; 1 Cor. 12:26
Every life has feelings. God's life is also full of feelings. In man's view, life is something intangible and abstract. But feeling is something tangible and more concrete. No one can show you life, but you can know life by the feelings of life. It is difficult to present life to man in a concrete way or to point a finger at something and say, "This is life." We cannot show others something called life, nor can others show us something called life. But we can know life by the feelings of this life. Thank and praise the Lord, He has given us a life, and this life has feelings; it is a life that can be known by its feelings. Although we cannot show ourselves or others something called life, the fact that we have new feelings within us proves that we have a new life.
After a man receives the Lord, we say that he is not only saved but also regenerated. This means that he is born of God; he has received a new life from God. Yet this is something that is very difficult to explain. How does a person know that he has life? How do others know that he has the life of God? How does the church know that he has the life of God? The existence of God's life is proved by the feelings of this life. If God's life is in a person, the feelings of this life must also be in that person. What are the feelings of life? When a Christian is accidentally overcome by sin, he will feel sorrowful. This is a feeling of life. When he sins, he feels uneasy, and he feels a barrier between himself and God and loses his joy; these are all feelings of life. Because God's life hates sin, when a man possesses His life, he will surely have a feeling towards sin. When he has this feeling of life, it proves that he has life.
If a man confesses that he is a sinner and receives the Lord Jesus to be his Savior yet never has any feeling about sin, is he regenerated? Suppose a person has sinned, but only admits that he is wrong when someone goes to him and tells him that he has done wrong. After some time, suppose he commits another mistake, but asks why he cannot do something like that when he is asked about his mistake. Before he will say, "Yes, I was wrong," others have to tell him it is a sin. Shortly after this, suppose he does something else again, and others still have to go to him before he realizes that he was wrong. He may never reject their words, and he may be very obedient, but he does not have any feeling of his own. If a man does not have any feeling of his own and depends on others to feel for him, how can we say that he has the life of God? If he has the life of God, he ought to have feelings. It is impossible for a person to have God's life yet not have any feelings of God's life. This can never happen. God's life is not unsubstantial or abstract; it is very substantial. How do we know that it is substantial? We know because this life has feelings.
When a man has God's life, not only will he have feelings toward sin, but the life he possesses will also give him a knowledge about God. We have not received a spirit of slavery but a spirit of sonship. Spontaneously we feel that God is very approachable and that it is a sweet thing to call, "Abba, Father." "The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God" (Rom. 8:16). Our knowledge of the Father is a feeling of life. Some people only know doctrines; they have never contacted God. They are afraid of God and have never touched God. They do not have any relationship with God. The Spirit has not witnessed with their spirit that they are children of God. They cannot cry, "Abba, Father," from their spirit. They may pray, but in their prayers, they do not feel that sin is far from them or that God is near them. They do not feel the evil of sin nor the intimacy of God. These ones have never had a relationship with God; they have not received a new life from Him. They do not feel that God is near or that Christ has removed the barrier between them and God. They do not have the feeling that they are God's children. They say that they are Christians, but they do not have the proper feeling before God. They can call with their mouth, "Our Father in heaven," but they do not have that feeling within them. The existence of feeling proves the existence of life. If they never have this feeling, how can anyone say that they have this life?
The same thing can be said about the Body of Christ. Many brothers and sisters ask, "What do I have to do before I can say that I have seen the Body of Christ? How can we live out the Body life?" I answer them, "All those who know the life of the Body of Christ will have the feeling of the Body of Christ. If you have seen the Body, it is impossible for you not to have the feeling of the Body. If the life within you is a fact and an experience, this life will give you a feeling." We must see the Body of Christ not only as a principle or a doctrine but also as a matter of feeling.
First Corinthians 12:26 says, "And whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it." Suffering is a feeling, and joy is a feeling. Although there are many members, the life they have is one, and the feelings they have are also one. Some people have artificial limbs. Outwardly their limbs look much the same as real limbs. But artificial limbs do not have life and therefore do not have the feeling of the body. When other members suffer, an artificial limb does not suffer. When other members rejoice, the artificial limb does not feel anything. Other members have feelings because they have the same life. But the artificial limb does not have any feeling because it does not have life. Hence, it is impossible to imitate life, and there is no need to imitate life. If you have it, you have it, and there is no need to imitate it. If you do not have it, you do not have it, and even if you imitate, it will not look like the real thing. The most obvious manifestation of life is feeling. Once a Christian sees the life of the Body, he will immediately have the feeling of the Body and have the same feelings as other members.
In spiritual matters, it is useless to have teachings without feelings. Suppose a person hears that lying is a sin and an improper thing for a Christian to do. As a result he also tells others that lying is a sin and that he should not lie. But the question is not whether he says with his mouth that he should not lie. The question is whether or not he feels anything wrong within him when he lies. If he does not feel sinful when he lies, it is useless for him to say with his mouth that lying is a sin. He can say that it is wrong to lie while lying just the same. One characteristic of those who have God's life is feeling inwardly wrong when they lie. They do not have to understand doctrinally that lying is wrong; when they lie, they feel uneasy within. This is being a Christian. Being a Christian is being a person with life and feelings within. One characteristic of being a Christian is the feeling of life. A person who does not have life and who has no feelings within is not a Christian. Outward regulations are merely standards; they are not life. Suppose a man says, "I know the teaching about the Body; therefore, I should not act independently." This is not enough. Such a person must have the proper feeling within about this matter. If he says with his mouth that he should not act independently yet does not have any feeling within when he is acting independently, he has never seen the Body of Christ. This does not mean that he has never heard the teaching concerning the Body of Christ; it means that he has not seen the reality of the Body of Christ. Hearing the teaching of the Body of Christ and seeing the Body of Christ are two entirely different things. Hearing the teaching of the Body of Christ merely means understanding a principle outwardly. But when one sees the Body of Christ, he will have a different feeling within him. When one hears the teaching of salvation, he merely knows how God saves sinners. But when he receives the Lord Jesus as the Savior, he will have the feeling of sin and the feeling of God within him. Brothers and sisters, can you see the difference here? This is why we cannot neglect the feeling of life. (We are not speaking about outward conscious feelings but inward conscious feelings.) This feeling is the expression of life. The presence or absence of feeling is the test that shows whether or not we have something real within us; it shows whether we have the life of God within us.
One mark of the feeling of life is that we do not need anyone to tell us about anything; we have this knowledge within us spontaneously. If we have to wait for others to tell us about something, our response is too late. Suppose every Christian needed someone else to tell him what sin is, what he should do, and what he should not do. This would be terrible! What would happen when there was no one else to tell him what he should do? What would happen if others told him, and he forgot about it? A Christian does not act according to what others tell him. A life within, a light within, and a feeling within will tell him what to do. We should pay attention to the feelings within. These inner feelings come from God's enlightening and from life; they are not from man.
At the time we were regenerated, we received a real life. Therefore, we also have a real feeling. The reality of the feeling proves the reality of life. May the Lord be gracious to us so that we can touch the feeling of life and live by the feeling of life. May the Lord give us rich feelings so that we will have feelings for everything — feelings for sins, feelings for God, feelings for the Body of Christ, and feelings for all spiritual realities. May the Lord lead us on for the glory of His name!
