Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
I see "natural ability" as the particular skills or talents we have that we were born with or learned. I believe in spiritual service it is important to rely upon God's gifts and power and not our own "natural abilities". 2 Cor 4:7 "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." Lee's use of the term "natural ability" may have included the sense of "self-reliance". As he often does, he compounds English words with extra meanings that an English speaker may not relate to, or uses the wrong word entirely.
|
In general we all need to rely on God and not anything else. That's Christ-Following 101. There is no need to go into this whole pseudo-spiritual analysis about the "natural ability" being fallen and needing to be "broken." Whether we rely on our natural ability, our money, our reputation or for that matter the weather, we all need to learn to rely on God first. No need to make it more complicated than that.
Another reason Lee ran this "natural ability" riff was it was a favorite way of his to discount others. If he ministered, it was according to God's grace. But if someone else did it better, then Lee was not above suggesting that the other person was actually just in his "natural ability." He loved to criticize gifted saints and tell them that their natural ability needed to be dealt with. He made us all suspicious of anyone with a gift. And forget it if your gift was musical or artistic. Everyone knew those were totally "natural" and should probably not even be utilized. No one was supposed to stand out, even if God gave them a stand-out gift. After all, what does God know?