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.
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.
Any kind of life has its feeling. If something does not have any feeling, that means it has no life. It is a dead thing. A stone does not have any feeling, but anything that has life has feeling. The higher the life is, the stronger the feeling is. The divine life is the strongest and highest life so it has the richest, strongest, and keenest feeling (Eph. 4:18). The divine life is the first item of the source of the sense of life. According to Ephesians 4:18-19, the unbelievers are past feeling because they are alienated from the life of God. If we are one with the life of God, we will have the richest, strongest, and keenest feeling.