The natural life must be dealt with. Yet we cannot pretend. Pretension is not Christianity. Christianity does not make us persons we are not. If we are adults, we will spontaneously have the appearance of adults. If we are children, we will spontaneously have the appearance of children. The same is true with God's work. It is He who touches our natural life and removes its strength. As a result we cannot do anything by ourselves any longer. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to manifest Christ within us. We do not want to be natural, yet we do not want to be pretentious either. It is an uncomely sight for a child of God to pretend to be spiritual; it frustrates his natural life from being dealt with. Many Christians pretend to be humble. The more humble they appear, the more uncomfortable they make others feel. With many Christians, it would be better for them to speak of worldly things because they would at least be somewhat genuine. But the minute they talk about spiritual things, others cannot help but pray, "Lord, be merciful to him. He is talking about things that bear no reality at all." Many Christians appear very meek, but one cannot help but pray, "Lord, forgive this man's meekness; we do not know where this meekness comes from." Indeed, nothing frustrates the Christian life more than pretension. We have to be unpretentious and genuine. If we want to smile, we should smile. If we want to laugh, we should laugh. We must never perform and never pretend. The Lord deals with the natural life, and the Holy Spirit accomplishes this work. We must never exhort others to be what they are not. If a man is humble, he is humble. If he pretends to be humble, his pretension is worthless. If a Christian pretends to be spiritual, his natural life will become even harder to deal with. God does not need this kind of person, because his pretension is a frustration to God's work.
In the last century, there was a brother who was greatly used by the Lord. One day he was a guest at another person's house. A young sister was also invited as a guest. The sister was surprised to find that this brother was also a guest. She wondered if this brother would put butter on his bread. She thought that a spiritual person would surely be different from others. But to her disappointment, he did not fit her expectation of what a spiritual person should be. He appeared to be just a normal man! She was disappointed that he was merely a man! She observed that he buttered his bread just like everyone else and chatted while he ate. She did not see much difference in him. She wondered why such a spiritual man would be the same as others. She did not realize that his difference did not lie in eating unbuttered bread or in restraining himself from conversation at mealtime, but in his special knowledge of God. What was special about this man was his experience in the life of God.
We should never think that dealing with the natural life is pretending to be a special kind of person, one who is found neither in heaven nor on earth. We do not need to pretend or imitate. It is God who touches our natural life and God who deals with us. God touches the seat of our natural energy. He strips us of our own ways so that we can struggle no longer. Peniel is God's work; it is not something that we conjure up. The Lord wants us to be genuine. We should neither strive to become genuine nor "act" genuine. One sister appeared very genuine before others. But while she appeared to be "genuine," her heart was saying, "See! How genuine am I!" This kind of "genuineness" has no value before the Lord. She was faking her genuineness; it was a kind of self-boasting genuineness. We have to remember that the natural life is not touched when we pretend to be what we are not. God alone can deal with our natural life; we cannot do it. We need to be unpretentious. We should be what we are. God will deal with our natural life. Brothers and sisters, we have to be thoroughly clear that there is a big difference between anything that comes from ourselves and anything that comes from God. Anything that comes from God counts, while anything that comes from us is worthless. Anything that comes from ourselves only makes us someone we are not. Only that which comes from God will make us Israel.