As believers in Christ, we all love the Lord and we want to serve Him and please Him to the best of our ability.
Yet somehow it looks like if “we do our best to do good and please God” and “we try our best to serve Him according to what He tells us” things are not that good, and there’s not much of the building up of the Body of Christ being produced.
The problem with so many seeking Christians is that they do just this – they do their best to please God and serve Him, yet this causes division in the Body, problems among the members of the Body, and even sometimes some of the most fervent ones not only cool off but give up or fall in sin.
This is especially true with the smart ones, the intelligent and capable ones, and the eloquent ones. God wants us to serve Him, and He definitely needs man to cooperate with Him, but He cannot use a natural man, a man who has not been broken in his natural being.
If we serve God in the church according to what is naturally good in us like our capability, our goodness, our business skills, our speaking skills, etc – yet these capacities and capabilities don’t pass first through death and into resurrection, we rather damage the church than build up.
God cannot use a natural man, no matter how capable he is, unless he is broken and dealt with.
May the Lord shine on us to see this principle and allow Him to deal with us, cooperating with Him to put our natural man to death and allow Christ to live in us and be expressed through us!
Dealing with Our Natural Constitution
Maybe you wonder Since God put some abilities and capabilities in you, shouldn’t you use them for God’s glory? Yes, you can use your ability and capability in the world, and you will succeed, but in the church life, as a member of the Body of Christ, anything that is natural in you and in me is not useful to God.
We need to deal with our natural constitution, which is “an outstanding characteristic of the soulish man and a prominent expression of the living out of the old man.” (Witness Lee, Experience of Life, p. 243). Our natural constitution has to do with the inborn and developed human ability, capability, wisdom, cleverness, and skills.
If we see the flesh being manifested, we may reject it; but when some saints express their undealt with and natural skills and capabilities, we may not consider them as bad.
Let’s look at Jacob in the Old Testament for example: his greatest problem was not merely his scheming and cheating everyone else, but his natural constitution.
Because of what he was inside, he was crafty, scheming all the time, cheating everyone, supplanting his brother and his uncle, and fighting with everyone to get more benefits. He was so able, so resourceful, so full of schemes, and very capable and skillful, and things went his way most of the time (see Gen. 28:20-22).
Jacob was very strong in his natural constitution, and no one could defeat him – until he met the Lord and wrestled with him (Genesis 35). After God touched the socket of his hip, He also blessed him and changed his name to Israel, the prince of God. From then on, Jacob limped – he no longer trusted in his natural energy, strength, scheming, and anything of the natural constitution.
He was no more a supplanter (the meaning of his name, Jacob) but a prince of God (the meaning of his new name, Israel). He reached the stage of maturity and he blessed everyone, including the Pharaoh (the ruler of the world at that time) and each one of his sons specifically.
Being Useful to God After Being Broken and Dealt With
The story of Jacob and the story of many capable yet dealt with saints throughout the ages, who have been used greatly by God, tell us one principle: God needs man to cooperate with Him, but He would not use man unless his natural man, ability, and constitution is broken and dealt with.
Our natural constitution, our natural ability and capability, unless it is broken, is a hindrance to God (see Gen. 32:22-32). God needs man’s cooperation – He can do a lot of things, but He limits Himself in what He does to how much man cooperates with Him.
God seeks some who are both willing and able to cooperate with Him. If we are not willing, He cannot work with us and through us. If we are not able and capable, His work through us is limited.
We must be able and capable and learn to be a useful man in every aspect, and then we are fit for His use. But God cannot use someone who is merely naturally capable. Our natural zeal, capability, ability, cleverness, schemes, skills, etc – all need to be broken by God: they need to pass through death and into resurrection so that they may be useful to Him.
God could use Peter to a certain extent only (because of his limited capability and ability), but He could use Paul to a much greater extent (because of his great capacity, training, and ability) after he was broken and dealt with by God (2 Pet. 3:15; 2 Cor. 12:7; Acts 26:14).
To be useful and usable in God’s hand we need to not only be capable and able, but we also need to allow the Lord to expose our natural constitution and take it through death and into resurrection.
In our natural constitution and with our ability, we always think we know better than others, and we can do a better job. But unless it is broken through death and brought into resurrection, our natural ability is a hindrance to God.
We need to see this clearly – our natural abilities, our makeup, our disposition, our entire natural constitution is a hindrance to God in the church! May the Lord shine on us and may we be those who cooperate with Him, agreeing with Him to touch this and bring this into resurrection, so that our entire being would be in resurrection!
Lord, have mercy on us and shine on us. Don’t let us remain the same as we are, and save us from damaging the church or hindering You because of living and serving in our natural constitution. Lord, cause us to see that our disposition, our makeup, and our natural ability are a hindrance to You in the church! We want to cooperate with You, Lord, and agree with the light shining on anything natural in us, so that we may be brought through death and into resurrection! Lord, make us being in resurrection that we may be useful and usable to You!
References and Further Reading
- This sharing is inspired from brother Ron Kangas’ sharing and portions in, The Experience of Life (by Witness Lee, pp. 243-247), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, ITERO spring 2013 “The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body“, week 2 entitled, Dealing with the Natural Constitution in Order to Be in Resurrection.
- Further reading: Basic Principles concerning the Eldership, chs. 15-16.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Freed from self and Adam’s nature, / Lord, I would be built by Thee / With the saints into Thy temple, / Where Thy glory we shall see. / From peculiar traits deliver, / From my independent ways, / That a dwelling place for Thee, Lord, / We will be thru all our days.
# I hardly know myself; / Deceived so much by pride, / I often think I’m right / And am self-satisfied.
# My old person has been nullified; / With my Lord upon the cross he died; / Now in nothing shall he be applied; / He’s dead to me. - Picture credit: an instagr.am by a friend here.
