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We must take care of our humanity. It doesn’t matter how much God works if there is not the proper humanity to stand upon. On one hand, we realize that our humanity is from God Himself. He made us what we are. He gave us our talents and capability. But still we have to realize that unless we are the boards made out of the proper wood, there is nothing for the gold to stand upon. Nothing spiritual will work if the humanity has problems. This is why Satan does his best to damage the humanity that God created. Satan attacks humanity to make it absolutely useless for God. Satan attacks the wood so that no gold can stand upon it. For His testimony, God needs a humanity that is able to work, struggle, fight, and stand firm. God can only use this kind of humanity.
For example, some brothers are not trustworthy. They can only bear so much, and if they are given any more, they can’t handle it. What is the reason? The piece of wood has problems. Then there is no way for God to use them. If we are a piece of plywood, then how can gold lay over us? If a little something comes to us and we can’t handle it, then how can God use us? If we want to serve the Lord, then all kinds of challenges and difficulties will come. At such times we must be very firm. We must be those who can say, “I am for Christ! I am for His church! Whether it is by His salvation or by my naturalness, I don’t even care! I am here standing firm for what God desires!” Then the gold can be laid over us.
If a person has a solid humanity, then it doesn’t make too much difference whether Christ is involved or not. A person is just solid. If a brother is having a hard time, he must be the acacia wood to go through it. In a sense, it is almost as if this has nothing to do with Christ. Needless to say, we still need Christ. But a good piece of wood is just a good piece of wood. On one hand, the acacia wood is a regenerated and transformed humanity. But on the other hand, wood is just wood. Humanity is just humanity. These two aspects do not contradict each other. Yes, our humanity needs to be transformed. But even before salvation, humanity is just humanity. Some people learn to work hard, while some live at ease. Some are able to stand firm and face problems, while some escape whatever difficulties come to them. Whoever escapes the difficulties, whoever cannot face the problems and challenges, how can they ever serve the Lord? We do need transformation, but we should not over-spiritualize it and make it too simple. If we are not a proper piece of wood, then God has no way to operate. The quality of wood makes a big difference in operation. No matter how much Christ is involved in our lives, if we are sloppy, indifferent, too easygoing, always escaping, unable to confront storms, afraid to stand firm, then God can never use us because our humanity has problems.
We may say that we need the virtues of Jesus. This is true, but even if the virtues are not of Jesus, we should still have them. We should not just wait so that we can be transformed. No one coming into the church life is automatically spiritual. But people do come in who are a piece of acacia wood. There is just something solid about them. There is something profound about their humanity. Gold can be laid upon this person. Does transformation come first, or does the acacia wood come first? Is the gold first laid over the wood, or is the acacia wood there already? It can be argued one way or the other, but with some brothers, the humanity is there for them to stand and be overlaid with gold. Because of their humanity, the Lord can use them.
