How many times have you tried to change something in your spiritual life by sheer effort only to find yourself more frustrated than before? What if you discovered that the secret isn't about trying harder, but about trusting better? Your reading of this message here is not a coincidence but this message can today completely change your understanding of the Christian life.
Watchman Nee in his profound wisdom taught that there is a huge difference between trying to live the Christian life and allowing Christ to live through us. Think about this for a moment. The harder you try to be good, the more you discover your inability. The more you strive to please God, the more aware you become of your shortcomings. This is not a coincidence. It is the divine design to show us a fundamental truth that is articulated so clearly. We are not called to imitate Christ, but to express him.
In Galatians 2:20, Paul declares, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." This verse is not just beautiful spiritual poetry. It is the exact description of how the Christian life works.
You see, when you try to live for Christ through your own effort, you deny the very essence of the cross. The cross exists not only to forgive your sins. It exists to replace your life with the life of Christ. God is not interested in improving your natural life. He desires to completely replace it.
Have you noticed how an orange tree produces oranges? The tree does not try to produce fruit. It simply manifests what is already in its nature. Likewise, you do not need to try to produce the fruit of the spirit. You just need to allow the life of Christ to flow through you naturally.
Many of us live as if Christianity were a self-improvement system. We read books on how to get better, attend motivational talks, and create spiritual checklists. But true Christian life is not about self-improvement. It's about self-denial.
When you try on your own effort, you are essentially saying, "I can do this. I just need to try harder." This is the voice of pride disguised as dedication. True humility says, "I cannot do this, but Christ in me can. I trust him to live his life through me."
"God never asked us to do what only Christ can do." Think about that. Have you been trying to do what only Christ can accomplish? Have you been carrying burdens that were not meant for your shoulders?
When we understand this truth, our entire approach to the Christian life changes. We stop focusing on trying and start focusing on trusting. We cease to rely on our willpower and begin to depend on the presence of Christ in us.
Romans 8:2 says, "For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death." Note that Paul does not say you free yourself through moral effort or discipline. You have been freed by the law of the spirit of life. It is a divine operation, not a human one.
We need to understood that Christianity is not a code of conduct but a life exchange. Christ did not come to give you a set of rules to follow. He came to give his own life in exchange for yours.
So why do we continue trying on our own? Why do we resist this liberating truth? Because trusting seems passive. It seems like inaction. Our nature wants to do something, to achieve something, to prove something. But God calls us to an active rest — one that is not laziness, but deliberate trust.
In Hebrews 4:10–11, we read, "For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his own works, as God did from his." Notice the apparent contradiction: we must strive to enter that rest. This means that trusting requires a decision — a conscious choice to stop trying and start trusting.
Watchman Nee frequently used the example of swimming to illustrate this truth: -
“When you are drowning, the more you fight, the faster you sink. Only when you stop struggling and yield to the water can you float.”
Similarly, the more we struggle in our own strength, the more we spiritually sink. When we stop fighting and surrender to Christ, we find that his life sustains us. All this I have been learning and that I am sharing with you all.
May God bless you all
Pt. Ramesh C. Koundal
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