"It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials, what God wants for us is to un-learn. God is all the time bringing us to the place where we un-learn things.
How many of us can un-learn: This has nothing to do with the faculty of intelligence. It has everything to do with our hearts before God, becoming poor in spirit. That is losing. What do we lose? Useless spiritual information, that is what we must lose. We can't just add facts to an improper foundation, or to no foundation at all. First we must get down to the only foundation, which is Jesus Christ.
But isn't that odd: It is not learning but un-learning. It is un-teaching. This is the biggest problem.
To put it in another light, here we are, Christians that are saved and have been pumped full of all kinds of knowledge; we think it must be right because we learned it at church and the majority of the people agree. But what are so many of us trying to do? We are trying to put on the armor of God, to put on the cloak of righteousness, the royal robe, the mantle of power, the mantle of gifts, the mantle of this and that, and all along we are trying to put it on over filthy rags. And what are these filthy rags? They are our own attempts at righteousness.
What dawns on me so clearly is that we must undress before we dress. We are trying to put on all that royal stuff and we haven't undressed yet. Remember, the wilderness is where we are undressed. And who wants that? Who wants to un-dress? And yet, that is 'becoming.' Only the people God can undress can He then put His mantle of power upon.
Why was Jesus exalted? Because He undressed Himself.
Though Jesus was God, He did not demand and cling to His rights as God, but laid aside His mighty power and glory, taking the form of a slave and becoming like men. And He humbled Himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal's death on a cross. Yet it was because of this that God raised Him up to the heights of heaven and gave Him a name above every other name. Therefore, that is the man or woman upon whom God will place His mantle of power and blessing and upon no one else. Just when we want to dress up in our spiritual finery, the Gospel says 'undress.'
And what about the church? How does all this apply to the church? How can God ever establish what the church is all about? First of all we must have un-church. God has to take away everything a church is not. This is the process of undressing, and that's no fun. Who wants to join that? That is why an un-church is always such a poor, miserable little work. (But do not despise the day of small beginnings!)
Once people learn some spiritual truths and get 'moving in the Spirit', who wants to become part of an un-church? And yet, to become an un-church before we can become a church is an absolutely vital and necessary thing. And how long does it take? A long time, given all the un-learning we must go through, with no immediate end in sight. So much has to be undone. I think of Isaiah when he saw the Lord. Isaiah said, 'Woe is me, for I am undone. I see the Lord.' Christianity today is anything but being undone, but true becoming is all tied up in this. Miss this fact and you've missed it all.
It's time to be undone. This may seem unbecoming to the world. But only in our unbecoming what we are, can we 'become' what we should be. Isn't that odd? But then somewhere it says we are to be a peculiar people. So be it!"
Oswald Chambers
"...do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
Romans 12:2
"But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil."
Hebrews 5:14