In this chapter we will continue to consider man’s problems. Other than the problems of emptiness and sin, we need to consider the problem of man’s life. Man’s existence, history, and experience all depend on man’s life. If a man loses his life, everything concerning him will come to an end. All things concerning man, including his career and all his enjoyment, depend on man’s life. When a person lies sick in his death bed, his career, no matter how prestigious, and his enjoyment of material pleasures, no matter how rich, will come to an end. Therefore, all things concerning man depend on man’s life.
Every kind of life has a certain kind of living. The duck life has the duck living, and the chicken life has the chicken living. If we put some ducks and chickens close to the edge of a pond, the chickens will become frightened at the sight of water and will try to stay away from it, but the ducks will become happy and do their best to enter into the pond. We will be able to identify the chickens and the ducks simply by observing their living, their expression of life. This principle also applies to the plant life. Some trees, such as the apple tree and the peach tree, are difficult to distinguish when they are still saplings. However, they are easy to recognize when they are mature enough to produce fruit. The life of a peach tree produces peaches, and the life of an apple tree produces apples. Likewise, a good tree produces good fruit, and a corrupt tree produces bad fruit. Thus, all trees are recognized by their fruit (Matt. 7:17-18). Life brings in the expression of life. Thus, every kind of life has its own living, its own expression. This is a biological law.
We can apply the biological law to the life of man in order to see the characteristics of man’s life. Philosophers throughout the ages have argued over the question of whether human nature is inherently good or evil. One group of philosophers advocates that man is born good, another group believes that man is born evil, and yet another group considers that man is born innocent. However, we can discern human nature simply by considering our living. We can determine the kind of life that we have from the kind of expression that we have. If our living is good, our life must be good, and if our living is improper, it is difficult to believe that our life is good. We do not need to ask others or criticize them concerning their human life; we simply need to examine our own living and walk.
If we observe our behavior in a sober and serious way, we will immediately discover that our living is improper. In many matters we are neither honest nor righteous, and our thoughts are often filled with crooked, dark, despicable, and corrupt things. No one can say with a pure conscience that he has never deceived others. People deceive not only those who are outside their family but also those who are within their family. Some do dishonorable things in order to deceive their own husbands, wives, and children. No one can say that he has never taken advantage of others or never stolen from others. Some people rob others on the streets, and others rob in less obvious ways, using their pens to steal from others. We need to consider all that we own, including the things stored in our homes and the clothing that we wear, and ask ourselves whether all these items have been obtained in a just and honest way. We need to examine our thoughts in order to see what our actual condition is. If there were a tool that could diagnose and display the actual condition of the heart and thoughts of man as thoroughly as an x-ray machine can diagnose the human body, no one would be able to stand before this kind of diagnostic light. Who can say that in every matter and in every respect his hands are clean and his heart is pure and upright? If we examine ourselves in this way, we will only be able to bow our heads and admit that our living is neither righteous nor honest.
In conversing with others, some people convey the assurance that they do everything according to their conscience. However, we should not be so bold as to give others such assurance. Can we genuinely assure anyone that as far back as we can remember, we have done everything out of a good conscience? If we are true to our conscience, we will never be able to convey to others such confidence in ourselves. When a doctor checks the condition of a patient’s lungs, he sometimes taps on different parts of the patient’s chest. He discerns the health of the patient’s lungs by the echo that he hears. Today, as they “tap” on their conscience, many people know their true condition by the different “echoes” that they hear. They are aware of their wrongdoings, including the things that they do in secret, behind the back of their parents, their spouse, and their employer. They know well what they owe their country and what offenses they have committed against their government. Many people know what they have done to deceive and hurt others. No one is completely faultless. We can only acknowledge in shame that our living is improper and that our behavior is dishonest.
However, it is not man’s will to have an improper and dishonest living. Many people do bad things not of their own will but because of the fallen and corrupted life within them. Every kind of life issues in a certain kind of living. We deceive others because our fallen and corrupted life is deceitful, and we steal because this life is greedy. When I was young, I had the concept that people told lies by learning from others. Thus, I thought that if my wife and I could refrain from telling lies at home, our children would not know how to lie to others or cheat them. This concept is wrong. I have learned from experience that even before a child learns to speak, he is able to lie. Before he can say anything, he is able do something deceitful. When my children were young, we once left a basin of water in our bedroom. One of my children saw the basin, put his hands into it, and began to play with the water. He did not know that we were standing outside the bedroom watching him play through a small opening in the door. We then softly pushed the door open and went into the room. As soon as he heard our footsteps, he withdrew his hands from the water and hid them behind his back. This was his attempt to deceive us and to lie to us. At that time I discovered that even though a child may have just learned to walk and may not have seen anything deceitful or know how to speak, he is already able to deceive others. No one needs to teach him to do this. Man’s deceitful behavior is nothing other than the expression of the deceitful life within man. The fallen life within man is deceitful, and this “fruit” will be manifested whenever there is an opportunity.
We should not consider that people sin and make mistakes because they are under a bad influence, nor that they commit sins by learning from others. Once, when I was preaching the gospel to some friends, they argued that people do bad things because they have come into contact with bad people. Their concept was that people would not gamble if they had never met others who gambled, or that people would not take bribes if they had not met those who broke the law and took bribes. They also believed that people would behave properly and uprightly if they were put in a good environment. After listening to them, I gave a crude illustration that expressed the proper concept. I told them of a person who owned a dog and a cat at home for a long period of time. The two pets lived together for some time and became friendly toward each other. However, the cat was not influenced by the dog’s life, nor was the dog influenced by the cat’s life. When a mouse appeared, the cat immediately threw itself onto the mouse, while the dog remained motionless, and when a stranger came to visit, the dog barked, but the cat remained quiet and did not move. Although the dog and the cat had been living together for a long time, the mouse-catching cat did not learn to bark, and the barking dog did not learn how to catch mice. Rather, both pets continued to live according to the life each had within.
This illustration shows that the expression of man’s living is not based on the environment but on the life within. When a person meets a gambler and begins to gamble after staying with the gambler for some time, it may seem that this person began to gamble because he was infected and influenced by the gambler. Actually, this person began to gamble because of the sinful life within him. Both the gambler and the one who was influenced to gamble have a sinful life within them; thus, the gambler was able to influence the other person. This can be compared to a situation where there are two cats in a home. When one cat catches a mouse, the other cat will salivate. Since the two cats have the same kind of life, the second cat has the same tendency to catch mice as the first. One person is easily influenced by another to do things such as gambling or dancing because the life within both persons loves gambling and dancing. Since the life is the same, the tastes, the preferences, and the expressions also are the same. This proves that every kind of life produces a living of its own kind. We have improper and dishonest expressions simply because the life within us is improper and dishonest.