The Neighbor’s Rice Field

The Chinese preacher Watchman Nee (1903-1972) was highly active in the house church movement in the People’s Republic of China and authored numerous writings. He spent the last 20 years of his life in a labor camp because of his faith in Christ. He once recounted the following incident:
A Christian in southern China had a rice field halfway up a hillside. During the dry season, he used a treadle pump to lift water from the irrigation ditch up to his field. Below his field were his neighbor’s two fields, and one night, the neighbor breached the separating earth wall, allowing all the water to flow onto his own fields. When the Christian repaired the wall and pumped more water up, the neighbor did the same thing again, and this happened three or four times. The Christian then consulted with his fellow believers. “I’ve tried to be patient and not retaliate,” he said, “but is this the right thing to do?”
After praying together, one of them remarked, “If we only try to do what is right, we are very poor Christians. We must do more than just what is right.” The next morning, the Christian pumped water for the two lower fields and in the afternoon for his own field. The neighbor was so astonished by this act that he began to investigate the motive behind it, and eventually, he too found Christ.
Right or wrong is the principle of pagans and tax collectors. My life as a Christian should not be governed by this principle, but by the example of Jesus Christ.