I recently finished reading The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee. This is one of the best books I've ever read that is centered around Christianity. I get tired of seeing all the "Christian" books out there with 3, 5, or 10 steps to being a better Christian or how I can obtain spiritual maturity by praying certain prayers. However, The Normal Christian Life is a basic explanation of Christianity in simple, real terms. Watchman Nee is so genuine in his writing and helps to explain certain aspects of my Christian faith that are still kind of hard to grasp even after all these years. This is not a new book, in case you've never heard of Nee. He wrote the book around 1957 and why I am just now hearing about his writings is most likely due to the Christian "self-help" books that have always been shoved my way instead. If you get a chance, grab a copy from Amazon.com for cheap. It has really given me some things to think about and has helped grow my faith.

No one who is a Christian, or is thinking about Christianity, should miss this book. I have read it several times and plan to continue doing so until I die. There is simply no other book that compares to it in terms of explaining the work of Christ on our behalf.

Watchman Nee always makes matters so clear. In this book he lays out what it is to live the Christian life. According to chapters 6, 7 and 8 of Romans, the conditions of living the normal Christian life are fourfold. They are: (a) Knowing, (b) Reckoning, (c) Presenting ourselves to God, and (d) Walking in the Spirit, in that order.

In the first matter, of knowing, there is no need to pray but only to praise. God has put us all in Christ, so that when Christ was crucified we were crucified also. If you feel that you have died, you have died; and if you do not feel that you have died, you have nevertheless just as surely died.

Likewise, our reckoning must be based on knowledge of divinely revealed fact, for otherwise faith has no foundation on which to rest. When we know, then we reckon spontaneously. It is that because we are dead --because we see now what God has done with us in Christ --therefore we can reckon ourselves to be dead. `Reckoning' in Greek means doing bookkeeping, which is the only thing in the world human beings can truly do with precision. Reckoning and faith are here practically the same thing. Faith is the acceptance of God's fact.

"Present yourselves... and your members", says Paul, and again: "Present your members" (Romans 6:13,19). God requires of us that we now regard all our members, all our faculties, as belonging wholly to Him. Because Christ is risen, we are therefore alive "unto God" and not unto ourselves. Nee asks how many of us dare not use our time or money or talents as we would, because we realize they are the Lord's not ours? How many of us have such a strong sense that we belong to God that we dare not squander a dollar of our money, or an hour of our time, or any of our mental or physical powers? Nee also points out that we must remember that God will always break what is offered to Him. However, after breaking it, He blesses and uses it to meet the needs of others.

The final point of walking in the Spirit means to trust the Holy Spirit to do in ourselves what we cannot do ourself. This life is completely different from the life one would naturally live of one's self. Each time you are faced with a new demand from the Lord, you look to Him to do in you what He requires of you. It is not a case of trying but of trusting; not of struggling but of resting in Him. If you have a hasty temper, impure thoughts, a quick tongue or a critical spirit, don't set out with a determined effort to change yourself, but, reckoning yourself dead in Christ to these things, look to the Spirit of God to produce in you the needed purity or humility or meekness. This is what it means to "stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you".

Watchman Nee uses plentiful examples of real-life scenarios to drive these points home. Reading this book really clarified for me what it is to live a "normal" Christian life, versus a typical one. I highly recommend this book.

In a time when American Christianity has been reduced to a weak, anemic, apathetic, watered down fairy-tail, Watchman Nee's writings call us back to the foundations of all that is important and meaningful. To wet your appetitite, from chapter 14, a little subchapter called "Waste" cleary defines perpective on the Christian Life. If I might quote Nee, "...in approving Mary's action at Bethany, the Lord Jesus was laying down one thing as a basis of all service: that you pour out all you have, your very self, unto Him; and if that should be all He allows you to do, that is enough. It is not first of all a question of whether `the poor' have been helped or not. The first question is: Has the Lord been satisfied?"

If I were to send someone away with two books, naturally, one would be The Bible, and the other would be The Normal Christian Life. All of us have an idea of what a normal Christian is, this book defines what a normal functioning, day-to-day Christian is from the perspective of our Lord, as his sight should be the only one that matters.

This book is profound! Life-changing. Each page is is so greatly written. It is a captivating piece, and thoroughly grounded in the truth. It is a must read for any seeking Christian!