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Originally Posted by Ohio
I agree with this ... for the most part. To me "natural ability" has everything to do with His creation of us individually and His sovereignty in our lives, arranging our families and environments. I believe that God made us as we are for a reason.
Your second statement was occasionally taken to extremes in the LC, e.g. you don't know anything about children so you should be put you in charge of the children's service, so that you must rely upon God's gifts and power and not your own "natural abilities." That's stupid.
I don't think that God's gifts and power vary that much "from the particular skills or talents we have that we were born with," to use your words. If one gets saved at a young age, these talents might not be manifested yet, but that does not mean they were not there.
For example, I was not gifted with any musical talent, neither naturally or spiritually. Right after I was saved, a well-meaning brother sitting next to me in one of my first meetings kindly took me aside, looked me in the eyes, and asked if I was "tone deaf." His "loving" question took me weeks to get over, but eventually with practice and grace I improved, and no longer stand out like an audio "sore thumb." All of God's "great gifts and power" have brought me to the point where I can now sing with others. Barely.
On the other hand, I am like the guru of home remodeling, basically been that way since I was born. I'm an engineer who has had rentals, flipped homes, and remodeled every home I ever lived in. There's not too much I don't know or can't do, so I was always responsible for the meeting halls. Every time one of the saints was buying a home, they asked me to come along to give my opinion. That didn't mean that I did everything without God, by my self, or without His grace, but serving in that capacity was to me a joy, something I liked doing. In Lee's scheme of things, "spiritual" service should not be something we like or enjoy. I disagree.
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It means whatever you do, do it in fellowship with the Lord. That means, call the Lord's name and pray to Him as you do whatever you do. Whether this is what Lee originally meant or not I do not know, but that is how I see it practiced today.
I see it as a way to preserve practical unity in the church. It can happen that certain individuals feel privileged or special to hold a certain function in the church, at the expense of others. I understand Lee may have preferred 5 uncapable people doing the one task than 1 capable person doing 5 tasks. This has been a frustration to me observing basic things done by more than enough people, or someone undoing something you have just done, so you have to re-do it again - this is what you get when there is no human organization per se, and "everyone can function".