Learn to Discern things according to Life and Death, not according to Right and Wrong

As believers in Christ, we need to live according to the principle of life and discern matters not according to right and wrong but according to life and death.

When a certain thing, matter, or teaching helps us enjoy the Lord more and brings us into life, that is of life, but if it brings in death and questionings, that is of death. Amen!

May the Lord save us from merely being familiar with the concept or doctrine of the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil; may this matter affect our daily living so that we may be persons of life on the line of life.

We may think we are doing OK, for we do the right thing and we always reject the wrong thing, and we may think everything is fine as long as we do things according to what we know the Bible tells us to do.

But our Christian life shouldn’t be according to any outward standard of good and evil, right or wrong; our Christian living should be according to the sense of life in our spirit.

We believers in Christ are a different kind of people than those in the world; we have another life in our spirit, and this life has a certain sense of life.

The highest life in the universe is in us, mingled with our spirit, and our Christian living should be according to this highest life.

We all have to admit, however, that most of our daily life, married life, and even church life is according to a certain standard that we have or have built up, not according to the principle of life.

We need to have a drastic change in our concept and be turned from the tree of knowledge to the tree of life.

Especially as we near the end of this age and the Lord’s return is so near, we need to actively turn to our spirit and learn to walk in the spirit, checking with the Lord within concerning all things.

This is similar to Israel’s experience at Jericho and Ai; at Jericho, they depended on the Lord for everything and they followed His leading, but at Ai, they just did not check with the Lord but trusted in themselves.

Similarly, when the Lord Jesus was on earth, everyone around Him tried to test Him, asking Him questions concerning what is the right and the wrong thing in this or that situation.

Again and again, however, the Lord Jesus turned them to the line of life, and His answer was also that He is the One that God wants to have, and that God and His word are enough for His people.

May we allow the Lord to break through our natural concept and our religious opinions and doctrines, and may we have a shift from mere knowledge to life, from living according to an outward standard to the principle of life.

If we Live according to the Principle of Life, we will Discern matters According to Life and Death, not according to Right and Wrong

As believers in Christ, we need to pray ourselves into the sense of life and check with the sense of the inner life again and again.

We should not merely live according to an outward standard of right and wrong, good and evil, but allow the sense of life to govern us, control us, and guide us day by day.

We should tell the Lord to guide us into the sense of life, for we don’t want to cast any feeling and be a senseless person who lives merely according to doctrine or right and wrong.

If we live according to the principle of life, we will discern matters not according to right and wrong but according to life and death (2 Cor. 11:3).

If we inwardly live according to the sense of life in our spirit, we will outwardly discern things not according to whether they are good or bad, right or wrong, but whether they are of life or of death.

If we read the gospel of John in particular we will see four specific cases (John 4:10-14, 20-21, 23-24; 8:3-9; 9:1-3; 11:20-27) in which people around Him wanted to know the right way and do the right thing, so they asked Him, Is it good to do this or to do that?

The Lord’s answer was not option A or B but C – His answer was also focused on Life, not on right or wrong.

Sinners, religious people, and the Lord’s own disciples came to the Lord trying to get Him on the tree of knowledge and tell them if this is right or wrong, who did something wrong and why, and what’s the right thing to do.

But the Lord Jesus didn’t “take the bait”; He kept every matter focused on life.

As we deal with things coming up in our daily life, we need to discern matters according to life and death, not according to right and wrong.

For example, in our browsing and using the Internet, from the emails to the forums and to the social media and multimedia that is out there, how do we do it?

Do we check to see if something is right, if they say the right thing, or do we check with the Lord within about it?

Some saints may even be a little disgruntled and they may post something online as if they are experts in a particular matter in which they are offended, while others may send a long email or text with a situation – and you simply sense death.

We need to discern matters according to life and death, checking with the Lord within to always remain on the line of life.

It seems that online everyone has a platform and everyone is an expert, but no one seems to check with the Lord concerning what they say; they seem to know everything and give advice to everyone, offering expertise for free.

How should we discern things? What should we take in and what should we reject?

We need to check everything not according to good and evil, right and wrong, but according to life and death.

When we read something or watch something, does life in us rise up and is strengthened, or does it fall and is wilting?

It is simple: when life rises in us, when we sense the flow of life, we should go ahead with that particular thing, but when there’s a sense of death, when life wilts and retreats, we should not go ahead with it.

When we’re about to send an email to someone or post something on social media, it would be great if there would be a button there saying, Check with the Lord about it. Amen.

Check with the inner sense of life and death.

So many mistakes can be avoided if we simply check with the Lord before we write something to someone or post something online.

We need to learn to pause and discern things according to life and death.

The Gospel of John emphasizes the fact that the tree of life is versus the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that we should care not for good or evil but for life.

Amen, may we be those who care for life, not merely for good or doing the right thing!

Lord Jesus, we love You! We want to live according to the principle of life and discern matters according to life and death, not according to right and wrong. Grant us to have a shift in our experience and living day by day from anything of knowledge to life! Amen, Lord, keep us on the line of life, being simple in loving You and enjoying You every day! Keep us enjoying You as life and partaking of You as the tree of life! We want to be those checking with You inwardly again and again and following the inner sense of life in all things. May we learn to discern things not according to right and wrong, good and evil, but according to life and death!

Anything that helps us Enjoy Christ is of Life, and Anything that Cuts off our Enjoyment of Christ is of Death

In 2 Cor. 11:2-3 Paul told the Corinthian believers that he was jealous over them with a jealousy of God, for he betrothed them to one husband to present them as a pure virgin to Christ.

But he feared lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, the thoughts of the believers in Corinth would be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity toward Christ.

Here Paul associated the Judaizers with the serpent in the garden of Eden; the Judaizers were coming in and speaking of the same Christ that Paul spoke of, but they were distracting the believers from the enjoyment of Christ.

The whole Bible is a development of the two trees – the tree of life signifies God in Christ as the Spirit to be life to us, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil signifies Satan as death, and it includes knowledge, good, and evil.

In the garden of Eden, the serpent distracted Eve from the tree of life and undermined God by asking a question, Did God really say…?

The serpent didn’t contradict what God said, but he asked a question to undermine God’s speaking; this led to the woman being distracted and confused, and the first man fell.

In 2 Cor. 11 Paul applies this to the Judaizers and the church in Corinth what the serpent did to Eve; the same situation in Eden was happening right there and then in Corinth.

Some Judaizers were preaching Christ, but they also preached the Judaic religion with its practices, and this distracted the believers from the enjoyment of Christ.

Paul even associated the Judaizers with the serpent, saying later that they are false apostles, deceitful workers, transfiguring themselves into apostles of Christ; and no wonder, for Satan himself transfigures himself into an angel of life (2 Cor. 11:13-14). Oh, Lord!

These Judaizers were ministers of Satan (v. 15).

When the serpent came to Eve in Gen. 3, he didn’t contradict what God said but simply asked a question and undermined God, bringing in doubt in God’s word and His heart. Oh, Lord.

Today it is the same; there are some teaching in Christianity that mention Christ but they do not bring in life but rather, there are questionings and doubts.

The best way to discern things is not according to right and wrong but according to life and death.

We need to ask ourselves whether a particular teaching or practice or thing causes us to enjoy the Lord more and love Him, or whether it distracts us from loving the Lord and injects death and questionings into us.

God’s economy is in faith (1 Tim. 1:4), but questionings come from teaching something else, “different teachings”.

We all have experienced receiving certain teachings or doing certain practices that seem good, but the result is that the inner enjoyment of Christ is cut off, either right away or after a while.

It’s almost as if there’s an insulation in the flow of life; we used to love the Lord, but after listening to a certain thing or receiving a certain teaching, the flow of life stopped.

May we learn to discern and differentiate matters by life and death in our daily living.

We need to reject any speaking that deprives us of the enjoyment of Christ as our life supply and receive the genuine ministry of the Lord, which always strengthens us in the enjoyment of Christ as our life and life supply (Rom. 8:6; 2 Cor. 11:3).

The genuine ministry draws us closer to God and causes us to love the Lord Jesus more; the genuine ministry betroths us to God and helps us love Him more.

However, some teachings and some things may seem so good and positive, but they cut the inner flow of life and sever our enjoyment of Christ.

Anything that cuts us off from the enjoyment of Christ is of the serpent; anything that causes our enjoyment of the Lord to increase is of the Spirit and of the New Testament ministry.

Our choice today is life or death, not good and evil; we need to discern all things according to life and death.

Lord Jesus, keep us enjoying You as our life and life supply. Make us those who discern things according to life and death. Amen, Lord, we receive everything that causes the divine life in us to grow and we reject anything that causes the enjoyment of Christ to stop. We choose You, Lord, and we choose life! We stand against anything of death, and we reject anything that causes the inner life to wilt and recede. Grant us such a keen discernment in all things so that we would differentiate matters by life and death. Amen, Lord, keep us under the genuine ministry of the Lord which always strengthens us in the enjoyment of Christ as our life supply! Keep us in the line of life, living according to the principle of life!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message, and portions from, Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msg. 53 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking the Way of Enjoying Christ as the Tree of Life (2022 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 2, entitled, The Two Trees and the Two Principles of Living.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Lord, teach us to discern the spirit, / The soul-life ever to deny, / And ever follow Thee in spirit, / Thyself, the Spirit, to apply. / Lord, teach us to discern the spirit / That we may never set our mind / Upon the flesh but on the spirit, / That sin and self no more may bind. (Hymns #746)
  – It is the inner sense in us, / The inmost consciousness, / Discerning matters inwardly, / God’s will to thus express. / ’Tis by this sense that God we know, / The sense of inner life; / ’Tis pow’rful and spontaneous, / And not of any strife. (Hymns #738)
  – The spirit we must seek to know, / Discerning spirit from the soul, / And live within this holiest place, / To worship God and reach His goal. / The soul we ever must forsake, / Press on, God’s rest to enter in, / That Christ we may possess in full / And all God’s plan fulfill therein. (Hymns #747)