This is shown in 2 Corinthians 4, which says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels” (v. 7). We know that this treasure denotes the Lord’s life. The Lord’s life is truly a treasure that we have obtained. However, since this treasure is put into an earthen vessel, it is not easily manifested, so God must come in to break the earthen vessel. The earthen vessel refers to our outer man. God uses the environment to deal with our outer man, that is, to break the earthen vessel. Through the environmental dealing and breaking, God puts to death our outer man. The afflictions we have due to God’s dealing and breaking are just like death working in us to break us as earthen vessels. This is to break our outer man, which is our soul and all the things of our soul. After our outer man passes through the breaking of death, the Lord’s life, which is the treasure in us, and our inner man, which is our spirit indwelt by the Lord’s life, are released. Although the outer man is decaying, the inner man, the regenerated spirit, is being renewed and is growing stronger day by day. The outer man is broken, but the treasure in the inner man is released.
Regardless of how good the things released from our outer man—our soul—are, they are not the treasure within us. Rather, they frustrate that treasure from being released. For this reason, while we are pursuing the growth in life, God often raises certain circumstances to do a work of breaking, consuming, and tearing down in us. If you are a thoughtful person, God will raise up circumstances to deal particularly with your mind in order to break it and tear it down. If you are one who is rich in emotion or one who loves to use your will, God will arrange environments to deal specifically with your emotion or will in order to break them and tear them down. Whichever part of your soul is especially prominent, that is the part that God will come in to deal with specifically, and you will experience particular sufferings in that part. This may be compared to our face hitting a wall; the part of our face that hits first and suffers most is our nose, the most protruding part of our face. Whatever part is especially prominent or strong will be especially touched by God when we meet with His dealing, and that is the part that will truly feel the pain. If your will is especially strong, then it will be the first part touched by God’s dealing, and it will be the part in which you feel the most pain. If your emotion is especially rich or your mind exceptionally sharp, then they will be the first parts touched by the circumstances given by God. You will suffer particularly in the point in which you are strong. Wherever you suffer the most is the place where you most need to be broken, because that is the point that has become a hindrance and an enemy to your spirit. If that particular point is not broken or torn down, then there will be no possibility for your spirit, your inner man, and the Lord’s life within it to be released. This is why God must come in to break and tear down that particular point.
After we are saved or revived, in our pursuit of the spiritual growth, God comes to us not to build up but to tear down what we originally had. He will tear down our mind with its cleverness, our emotion with its zeal, and our will with its opinions. Oh, brothers and sisters, God’s salvation is not to build up the things of the self in us. No, God’s salvation is to build up His own things in us, to build up the things of Christ, the spiritual things, so that the spirit of life in us, that is, our new inner man, can grow stronger day by day, and the things we had originally, that is, everything of our old man, can be torn down and broken.