THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE: SIMPLE, DEEP, TRANSFORMATIVE
One of the writers who has helped my walk more than most is Watchman Nee. He was a man who loved Jesus with a quiet, burning intensity. Living in China in the early 20th century, he poured himself into teaching ordinary believers how to live an extraordinary life in Christ. He founded churches, trained leaders, and wrote books that are alive with insight and love for God. His most famous work, The Normal Christian Life, is a guide not to a checklist or a set of rules, but to a life fully surrendered to Jesus, a life flowing with His presence.
Likely no extra-biblical book has ever helped me more than that one. I used to say every Christian should read it, but then I noticed how some people read it and seemed to miss its power, and I hesitated, wondering if I should still recommend it. Different authors and books hit people differently. So now I say simply: it helped me, and it may help you. That’s all. There is no pressure here. Just a quiet invitation to step into something deeper, to learn to live from the life of Christ instead of trying to push life out of your own effort.
Nee’s teaching is simple, yet it penetrates the soul. He begins with the truth that we are united with Christ in His death and resurrection. Sin no longer rules over us, not because we are strong, but because we have been crucified with Him. Paul said it beautifully: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). So much of our struggle comes from living as though we are still under the weight of the old self, as though we must carry the world alone. But the normal Christian life is learned when we remember that Christ’s life is flowing through us, unseen yet powerful, carrying us through the valleys, lifting us above the storms, giving us victory over what once had dominion.
The second truth Nee presses upon us is that the Christian life is not about striving or polishing ourselves. It is about Christ-expression. We are not called to make ourselves holy; He is the Holy One. He is the River, the Source, the Life that flows through the clay jars of our ordinary days. The more we release ourselves, the more fully He inhabits our hearts. The more we lay down our agendas, our fears, our ambitions, the more His life can breathe through us, shaping our words, our thoughts, our very being. As Paul prayed, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Ephesians 3:17), we find that even the mundane becomes sacred, even the ordinary hours are touched by His glory.
Reading The Normal Christian Life is not about adding more duty or obligation to your day. It is about stepping out of the futile labor of trying to live the Christian life on your own. It is about trusting Him, letting Him do through you what you could never do for yourself, and discovering the quiet, persistent beauty of a life lived from the inside out. This is a life that is simple, yet astonishing; ordinary, yet eternal; hidden in the heart, yet radiant before God.
If you have not read it, I cannot promise you will grasp it all the first time. But perhaps, if you open the pages gently, God will use it to whisper truth to your soul, to lead you into a deeper, quieter joy, and to teach you to live — truly live — in the flow of Christ.
Bryan Dewayne Dunaway
