People have many different opinions concerning Christianity and religion. Most people, however, believe that the goal of Christianity is to help people do good. This thought is held both in the East and in the West and has existed in the past as well as in the present. People think that to be a Christian is to be one who tries his best to do good. We may also have this thought. The source of this thought is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When Adam, the father of the human race, partook of that tree, the knowledge of good and evil entered into the human race. From that time, human beings have always had the thought that they should try to do good. This thought, however, is absolutely contrary to God’s thought.
In the garden of Eden there were many trees, but among these trees were two main trees—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9). These two trees oppose each other. The tree of life represents God’s thought, which is that man would take God in Christ as life. Christ Himself is the tree of life (John 14:6; 15:1), and God desires that we would take Christ to be our life (Col. 3:4). Adam, however, did not take in the tree of life; he took in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:6). From the time that he did this, the notion of trying to do good has been in the human race. Human beings think that trying to do good and teaching others to do good is a good thing. Every religion, including today’s Christianity, has this concept, but this thought is not God’s thought.
The Jews received the law from God. The law is related to knowing what is good and what is evil and trying to do good and rejecting evil. When the Jews received the law, they believed that the law was something of God’s original thought (Exo. 24:3, 7). This, however, was not the case. The law was something additional; it was not something of God’s original thought. For what purpose was the law added? It was added to prove that we are unable to do good and to show that even if we are able to do some good, our good does not please God (Gal. 3:19; Rom. 5:20a). The law testifies and proves that we are sinners (v. 20b; 7:7). Due to the fall of man, human beings have the knowledge of good and evil and have the thought that they should try to do good. Thus, when they learn about the law of God, they say, “This is it. This is what we should do. We should try our best to do good in order to please God.” However, this is not the purpose of the law, nor is it God’s desire.
God’s desire is to enter into us and to be mingled with us in Christ. God’s intention is to work Christ into us. Christ is the manifestation of God, the embodiment of God, even God Himself (John 1:18; 1 Tim. 3:16; Col. 2:9; John 1:1, 14). The human thought is that we must try our best to do good; God’s thought is that we need Christ to be wrought into us.
Some may say that they have already heard this and already know this. The question, however, is not whether we have heard this but whether we practice it. You may know this as a Christian teaching, but do you practice this in your daily life? I have discovered that the vast majority of seeking Christians still have the thought that they need to try their best to do good to please God. If you are not seeking God, you will not care about doing good to please God, but once you are revived and brought back to God, you will immediately have the thought that you must begin to try to do good to please God. You may even pray to the Lord, “Lord, in the past I have done many things against You. Now I praise You and thank You that You have brought me back to You. I know that from now on I should do good to please You. However, I know that I am weak, so I pray that You will help me.” I believe that many of us have prayed in this way after being revived and brought back to the Lord. We must realize, however, that this prayer is not according to the mind and thought of God and that this kind of prayer has never been answered.
I would like to tell you a true story about a brother whom I know. When this brother was far away from God, he did not care how he behaved, but when he was brought back to the Lord, he confessed to the Lord that he had been mean to his wife and had frequently lost his temper. He confessed this to the Lord and made a decision that from that moment on he would never lose his temper again. Realizing that he had a weakness related to his temper, he prayed to the Lord, saying, “Lord, You know how weak I am. Since I am weak, I trust in You, and I ask You to help me.” However, after making this decision and praying in this way, he still continued to fail. During this time he came to me and said, “Brother Lee, the more I pray that I would not lose my temper, the more I lose it, and when I pray for the Lord to help me, He does not come in and answer my prayer. What is the reason for this? In so many other situations I have prayed and have received clear evidence that the Lord has heard my prayers. Why then does it seem that when I pray regarding this matter, the Lord does not answer my prayer?” I answered this brother: “The Lord will never answer this prayer, because this prayer is not according to the mind of God.” He was puzzled by this answer and replied, “What do you mean? The Bible tells us that husbands must love their wives. In light of this I realized that it was wrong for me to lose my temper with my wife and decided that I must try to be nice to my wife. How can this be contrary to the mind of God? Are you saying that I should hate my wife? Surely, that cannot be according to the mind of God.” I then answered him, “I am not telling you to try to be nice to your wife or to hate your wife. Neither of these is correct. To hate your wife is according to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and to try to love your wife is also according to this tree. To do evil is according to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and to try to do good is also according to this tree. This tree is not only the tree of evil but also the tree of good.” Then I asked this brother, “Brother, do you think that God’s desire is to build you up to be a good man? Do you think that God’s desire is to build good into you so that you will love your wife more than any other husband loves his wife? If you think this, you are wrong. God’s desire is to build Christ into you and to build up Christ within you. Then, when you love your wife, it will not be you loving your wife but Christ. You must give up trying to be good and come to the Lord and say, ‘Lord, I know that Your will is not that I would do good. Your will is that I would live not by myself but by You. Thus, I take You as my life.’” Then this brother asked me, “How shall I relate to my wife? Shall I continue to lose my temper all the time?” I answered him, “Brother, what you need to do is to give up the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In other words, you must give up yourself. Forget about yourself, forget about your temper, and forget about trying to be patient with your wife. Instead, take Christ as your life. Day by day and moment by moment take Christ as your life and experience Christ as your life. Forget about your wife, forget about your patience, forget about your temper, and forget about good and evil. Forget about everything and focus on Christ alone. Simply take Christ as your life.”
We should not think that only evil is versus life. Good also is versus life. Good and evil are both on the tree that is in opposition to the tree of life. Hatred is not life, and natural human love also is not life. Being proud is not life, and being humble is not life. Losing one’s temper is not life, and being patient is not life. Neither evil nor good is life. What then is life? Life is Christ, and Christ is life (John 11:25; 14:6). Our evil and our good, our hatred and our love, and our pride and our humility are all opposed to life. Only Christ is life.
We must also be clear that God has no desire to build us up to be good. God’s thought is that Christ would be built up within us. God wants to build something other than evil and good into us; God wants to build Christ as life into us. He wants to build into us not love but Christ, not humility but Christ, not a good temper but Christ, and not patience but Christ. To be a normal Christian is not to be one who tries to do good; neither is it to be one who does evil. To be a normal Christian is to be one who lives by Christ. It is not easy for us to forget about trying to do something, but we must realize that to be a Christian simply means to be one who lives Christ and takes Christ as the tree of life. Christ is the living One. He is the Spirit and the life within us (2 Cor. 3:17; Col. 3:4). As such, He is real, and we can experience Him in a very real way. We simply need to take Him as our life moment by moment. This is God’s thought and God’s desire.