We have clarified the issue of how to treat interests and hobbies correctly; now, what does truly letting go refer to? We are not criticizing or condemning interests and hobbies, rather we are dissecting the pursuits, ideals, and desires that people establish with interests and hobbies as their foundation and capital. Consequently, it is these pursuits, ideals, and desires that must be truly let go. We fellowshipped earlier about letting your interests and hobbies play a positive role and produce a positive effect—this is an active method of practice for letting go of people’s pursuits, ideals, and desires. In another respect, people should not pursue their own ideals and desires because they have interests and hobbies—this is a more practical form of letting go. In other words, one aspect is to utilize your interests and hobbies well, while another is that you shouldn’t pursue ideals and desires established because of your own interests and hobbies, that is, don’t pursue the life goals you have because of your interests and hobbies. So how might you determine that you are employing interests and hobbies normally, and not pursuing ideals and desires? If you have an interest or hobby, and you apply it correctly to your work, to the performance of your duty, and to your own daily life, if the goal of your pursuit is not to showcase yourself or blow your own trumpet, certainly not to increase your own popularity or gain the esteem, commendation, and admiration of others, and of course more especially not to make people have a place in their hearts for you because of your interests and hobbies, and thereby establish and follow you, then you have carried out a positive, proper, appropriate, and rational application of your interests and hobbies, which aligns with normal humanity and conforms to God’s will, and you are utilizing them according to the truth principles. But if, while utilizing or applying your interests and hobbies, you force others to admire and accept you, with the especially strong purpose of showcasing yourself, if you unscrupulously, shamelessly, and forcefully get others to listen to and accept you, satisfying the vanity you get from showcasing your interests and hobbies, regardless of how others feel, ultimately using your interests and hobbies as capital to control others, gain a place in their hearts, and establish prestige among people, and if ultimately you achieve fame and profit as a result of your own interests and hobbies, then this is neither a legitimate use of interests and hobbies, nor a normal employment of your interests and hobbies. Such actions should be condemned, they should be discerned and rejected by others, and of course they should also be let go of by people. When you use opportunities to perform your duties, or you give yourself the pretext of being a leader, a person in charge, or someone with exceptional talent, in order to show others that you have certain talents and skills, and show them that your interests and hobbies are above theirs, this way of doing things is inappropriate. It involves using the employment of your interests and hobbies as a pretext to establish prestige among people and satisfy your own ambitions and desires. To put it precisely, this process or course of action amounts to exploiting your interests and hobbies and people’s admiration for them to realize your pursuits, ideals, and desires. This is what you should let go of. Some people say, “After hearing this, I still don’t know how to let go.” In reality, is letting go easy? When you possess certain unique interests and hobbies, if you do nothing, these interests and hobbies stay within your humanity and don’t have anything to do with what path you take. However, once you are constantly showcasing your interests and hobbies, attempting to win fame among people or increase your popularity, make yourself known to more people, and attract more attention, this process and this course of action are not simple ways of doing things. When all these actions and behaviors are combined, they form the path a person takes. So, what is this path? It is an effort to pursue the realization of one’s ideals and desires within God’s house, to pursue the admiration of others, and to achieve the satisfaction of their own ambitions and desires. Once you start this kind of pursuit, the path you are on becomes a path of no return, a path leading to destruction. Shouldn’t you quickly turn around, reverse these actions, and let go of these actions, ambitions and desires? Some may say, “I still don’t know how to let go.” Then, don’t do it. What does “don’t do it” mean? It means you should keep your interests and hobbies hidden and try your best not to showcase them. Some may ask, “But if doing my duties requires it, should I show them?” When you should, when you must show them, you should do so—that’s the right time for it. However, if you are currently on a path of pursuing your ideals and desires, then don’t reveal them. When you feel the urge to show them off, you should pray to God, make a firm resolution, restrain these desires, and at the same time accept God’s scrutiny and discipline, control your heart and confine your ambitions and desires to their cradle, making them disappear, and never letting them become a reality—is this good? (Yes.) Is it easy to do? It isn’t easy, is it? Who has a bit of talent but doesn’t want to show it off? Don’t even mention those who have some special skill. Some people can cook and prepare meals, and they want to show off wherever they go, even calling themselves “Tofu Beauty” or “Noodle Queen.” Are these minor skills worth showcasing? If they were to possess exceptional gifts, how excessive would their arrogance become? They would undoubtedly end up on a path of no return. Of course, apart from people taking the wrong path, or a path of no return, due to their interests and hobbies, the majority of them often have active thoughts because of their interests and hobbies in the process of believing in God. While believing in God and doing their duties, in their minds they are constantly turning over the ideals and desires they established, or they may continuously remind themselves of their unrealized ideals and desires, constantly telling themselves in their hearts that they still have these ideals and desires that have never been realized. Even though they have never paid any specific price or adopted any specific practice toward these things, these ideals and desires have taken root deep in their hearts, and they have never let them go.

Earlier, we fellowshipped about and dissected that the pursuit of realizing ideals and desires, as well as following the path of this world, is a path of no return, a road that leads to destruction. This and the pursuit of the truth are like two parallel lines, there will never be a point where these lines intersect, and of course they too will never intersect with each other. If you believe in God and wish to pursue the truth and attain salvation, then you must completely let go of any ideals and desires you previously held in your heart. Do not preserve or cherish them; they should be discarded. Pursuing the realization of your ideals and desires and pursuing the truth are like paths of oil and water. If you have ideals and desires and wish to realize them, you will be unable to pursue the truth. If, through an understanding of the truth and so many years of experience, you wish to set your mind on pursuing the truth in a grounded manner, then you should abandon your past ideals and desires, removing them completely from your consciousness or the depths of your soul. If you wish to pursue the truth, then your ideals and desires will never come to fruition. Instead, they will disrupt your pursuit of the truth and your entry into the truth reality, while dragging you down and making your path to pursue the truth arduous and challenging. Since you know you will be unable to realize your ideals and desires, it is better to decisively cut ties with them, and let them go completely, don’t think about them again, and don’t hold onto any illusions about them. If you say, “I am still not very interested in the path of pursuing the truth and attaining salvation. I still don’t know whether I can pursue the truth, whether I am a pursuer of the truth. I am still unclear about this path of attaining salvation. On the contrary, I have a very concrete path toward pursuing worldly ideals and desires, and a very concrete plan and strategy.” If this is the case, then you can let go of the path of pursuing the truth and doing your duties to go realize your ideals and desires. Of course, if you are unsure whether to pursue your ideals and desires or the truth, I advise you to remain calm for a period of time. Perhaps stay another one or two years in the house of God: The more you eat and drink God’s words, the more environments you experience, the more your perspective and approach to how you view things mature, your mood and state will improve, which will undoubtedly be an immense blessing for you. Perhaps after a couple of years, you may come to understand certain truths, gaining a thorough insight into the world and humanity, then you will be able to completely let go of your ideals and desires and willingly follow God for the rest of your life, accepting His orchestrations. No matter how great the hardships you may face in God’s house, you will be able to persist in fulfilling your duties and completing your mission. And most importantly, you will have firmly resolved and decided to abandon your previous ideals and desires, allowing you to pursue the truth in a grounded manner without wavering. However, if you are unable to be certain now and wish to reassess in one or two years whether you can pursue the truth, God’s house will not force you, or say, “You are distracted and unsteady.” After a year or two, as you read more of God’s words, listen to more sermons, understand a bit of the truth, and your humanity matures, your perspective on how you view things, your outlook on life, and your worldview will change. By then, your choices will be somewhat more accurate than they are now, or, to use a phrase from the unbelievers, by then you will know what you yourself need, which path you must take, and what kind of person you must be. This is one aspect. Suppose you genuinely have no interest in believing in God and only did so because your parents or co-workers presented the gospel to you, and you accepted out of saving face or politeness; you reluctantly attend gatherings and do your duties in God’s house, while thinking that the church brothers and sisters are not bad and, at the very least, they don’t bully people, and God’s house is a place of reason, where the truth holds authority, and where people are not subject to oppression or the bullying of others, and you feel that God’s house is better than the world of unbelievers; but your ideals and desires have never been let go of or changed, and on the contrary, these previously held ideals and desires have been growing stronger and clearer in the depths of your heart, mind, and spirit; and as they become more pronounced, you find that, when it comes to faith in God, the truth being fellowshipped about, as well as the daily words, actions, and way of life, etc., are increasingly dull and dry; you feel uncomfortable, and pursuing the truth is out of the question, you have no interest whatsoever in pursuing the truth, and have no good opinions in your mind about walking the correct path in life, how to conduct oneself properly, or what constitutes positive things; if you are someone like this, then I tell you, hurry up and go pursue your own ideals and desires! There is a place for you in this world, a place amid the complex and chaotic currents of evil. You will undoubtedly realize your ideals and desires just as you had hoped and will obtain the things you wish for. God’s house is not suitable for you to stay, it is not your ideal place, and certainly, the path of pursuing the truth is not what you want to take, and it is especially not what you need. Take advantage right now, while your ideals and desires are taking shape, and while you are still young and still have the energy or resources to go strive in the world, hurry up and leave God’s house, go realize your ideals and desires. God’s house won’t hold you back. Don’t wait until the day when you lose hope of receiving blessings and you have nothing to say about your experiential testimony, when you haven’t finished fulfilling your duties properly and finally wake up at the age of fifty, sixty, seventy, or eighty, wishing to pursue the truth—then it will be too late. If you don’t wish to stay in God’s house, then you will abandon yourself to ruin. For people like you, there is no need to go against your will and let go of your pursuits, ideals, and desires. Because the premise I discussed of letting go of people’s pursuits, ideals, and desires is that you are a person who pursues the truth or although right now you have yet to start pursuing the truth, you have set your heart on becoming one, and you won’t leave God’s house no matter if you attain salvation or not, regardless of whether you live or die. I am addressing people like this. Of course, I should add a disclaimer: As I have been fellowshipping today about the topic of “letting go of people’s pursuits, ideals, and desires,” it is with the premise that people are willing to pursue the truth and attain salvation. It is specifically aimed at people who are willing to pursue the truth and attain salvation. Apart from them, those who are not concerned with the path, direction, willingness, or resolve of pursuing the truth and attaining salvation, need not listen to today’s topic. This is the disclaimer I have added; it is a necessary one, is it not? (Yes.) We grant people freedom, we don’t force anyone. Any truth principle, any teaching, provision, support, or help is given to people based on rationality and on the condition that they are willing. If you are unwilling to listen, you can cover up your ears and neither listen nor accept it, or you can also leave—both are acceptable. The fellowship of the truth in God’s house is not forced upon anyone to accept it. God grants people freedom and does not compel anyone. Tell Me, is this a good thing? (Yes.) Is there a need to force them? (No.) There is no need for force. The truth brings life, eternal life. If you are willing to receive this, and you accept and submit to it, then you will receive it. If you do not accept it, but reject and resist, then you will not attain it. Whether you can attain it or not, you must accept the consequences. Isn’t this the case? (Yes.)

The reason why we fellowship about the need to let go of certain things while pursuing the truth is because pursuing the truth and attaining salvation is similar to when people participate in a marathon. Contestants participating in a marathon don’t need extraordinary physical strength or exceptional skills, but they are required to possess certain endurance and perseverance, and they are required to have faith, as well as the determination to persevere. Of course, in the process of participating in a marathon, apart from these spiritual elements, people are also required to gradually let go of certain burdens in order to reach their destination more easily, more freely, or in a way that is more in line with their wishes. The marathon, as a sport, doesn’t care about the ranking of participants reaching their destination; rather, it cares about the performance of individuals over the course of the event, their perseverance, endurance, and everything they undergo in the process. Isn’t that so? (Yes.) When it comes to belief in God, pursuing the truth and ultimately attaining salvation is similar to a marathon; it requires a very long process, and in this process it also requires letting go of many things unrelated to the pursuit of the truth. These things are not just simply unrelated to the truth, but more importantly, they can obstruct your pursuit of the truth. Consequently, in the process of letting go of and resolving these things, one may inevitably experience some pain and need to abandon certain things and make correct choices. The pursuit of the truth requires people to let go of many things because these things diverge from the path of pursuing the truth and go against the correct life goals and direction toward which God guides people. Anything that goes against the truth and obstructs a person from pursuing the truth and taking the correct path in life is a negative thing, all for the sake of pursuing fame and profit, or to achieve such results as abundant property and money. This path of pursuing the realization of one’s own ideals and desires relies on people’s abilities, as well as their knowledge, their fallacious thoughts and viewpoints, and their various philosophies for worldly dealings, as well as their various methods, tricks, and schemes. The more one pursues the realization of their own ideals and desires, the further they drift away from the truth, from God’s words, and from the right path that God has pointed out for them. The so-called ideals and desires in one’s heart are actually empty things, they cannot teach you how to comport yourself, how to worship and understand God, or how to submit to God, to God’s will, and to the Sovereign, among other positive things like this. When you pursue your ideals and desires, you will not gain any of these positive and valuable things alike that align with the truth. Any life path oriented toward people’s pursuits, ideals, and desires has the same ultimate goal, essence, and nature—they all go against the truth. However, the path of pursuing the truth is different. It will correctly guide your life path—this is a somewhat broad manner of speaking. More specifically, it will expose your incorrect and distorted thoughts and viewpoints toward how you treat various people, events, and things. At the same time, it will inform you, guide you, supply and teach you correct and accurate thoughts and viewpoints. Of course, it will also tell you what manner of thoughts and viewpoints to have as you view people and things, comport yourself, and act. This path of pursuing the truth tells you how to comport yourself, how to live within the boundaries of normal humanity and comport yourself according to the truth principles. At the very least, you should not dip below the standard of conscience and reason—you should live like a human and as a human. Apart from this, this path informs you more specifically about the thoughts, viewpoints, perspectives, and stances you should have as you view every matter and do every thing. These correct thoughts, viewpoints, perspectives, and stances are at the same time the correct criteria and principles of self-comportment and action that one should uphold. When a person achieves or enters into the reality of viewing people and things, comporting oneself, and acting wholly according to God’s words, with the truth as their criterion, that person has become saved. Once a person is saved and gains the truth, their point of view toward things will completely transform, aligning perfectly with God’s words and in accordance with God. When this stage is reached, a person will no longer rebel against God, and God will no longer chastise or judge them, nor will He detest them. It is because this person is no longer an enemy of God, they no longer stand in opposition to God, and God has truly and rightfully become the Creator of His created beings. People have returned under God’s dominion, and God enjoys the worship, submission, and fear that people should offer to Him. Everything falls naturally into place. All things created by God are for humankind, and humankind, in turn, manages all things under God’s sovereignty. All things are under humankind’s management, everything follows the rules and laws set by God, progressing and continuing forward in an orderly manner. Humankind enjoys all things God has created, and all things exist in an orderly manner under the management of humankind. All things are for humankind, and humankind is for all things. All of this is so very harmonious and orderly, all of it comes from God’s sovereignty and His salvation of humankind. It is really such a wonderful thing. This is one of the ultimate meanings of letting go of pursuits, ideals, and desires. You see, although you let go of your temporary ideals and desires now, in the end, what you gain is the truth, it is life, it is the most precious thing. Compared to the worthless ideals and desires you let go of, they are who knows how many thousands, or even tens of thousands of times more valuable. They are virtually incomparable. Isn’t that so? (Yes.) Of course, one thing should be made clear: People should understand that pursuing ideals and desires will never teach you how to comport yourself. Since the day you were born, your parents told you, “You must learn to lie, learn to protect yourself, and don’t let others bully you. When someone bullies you, you must be tough, don’t be weak, don’t let others think you are that easy to bully. Furthermore, you must acquire knowledge and strengthen yourself, so that you can stand firm in society. You must pursue fame and profit, women ought to be independent, and men should carry the weight of the world.” From a young age, your parents educated you in this way, as if they were teaching you how to comport yourself; but in reality, they were striving, doing whatever it took, and even seeming to put their lives on the line in order to push you into this world, into this evil tide, to leave you ignorant of what is positive and what is negative, ignorant of how to distinguish between justice and evil, how to discern between positive and negative things. At the same time, your parents also taught you, “Do whatever it takes, don’t be too polite with others. Tolerance to others is cruelty to yourself.” They have been educating you like this since you first began to understand things, and then at school, and in society, everyone teaches you the same things. They do not teach you this so that you will comport yourself as a human, but so that you will become a demon, lie, do evil, and perish. It’s only after you believe in God that you come to know that one must comport themselves as an honest person and speak the truth and the facts. You muster up the courage and finally manage to speak the truth, and hold onto your conscience and moral boundaries in order to speak it once, but you are spurned by society, blamed by your family, even ridiculed by your friends, and in the end, what happens? You are hit hard, you’re unable to bear it, and you don’t know how to comport yourself anymore. You feel that comporting yourself as a human is too difficult, being a demon is easier. Just be a demon and follow the evil tide of this society—no one will say anything. No one in the whole of humankind teaches you how to comport yourself. After you believe in God you hear that every word God speaks and everything God does is to teach you how to comport yourself, how to practice the truth so that you can become a true human being. Only in God’s words can you find the correct answer to what is true human life. Consequently, how to view people and things, and how to comport oneself and act must be wholly based on God’s words, with truth as its criterion. This is what is called acting like a person. When you understand the basis of comporting yourself according to God’s words, and comprehend and enter into the truth principles, then you will know how to comport yourself, and you will become a real human being. This is the foundation for self-comportment, and only such a person’s life is worthwhile, only they deserve to live and should not die. On the contrary, those who act like demons, those walking corpses wearing human skin, those people do not deserve to live. Why? Because everything God created is prepared for humankind, for God’s created beings, not for demonic kind. Then why are those people still able to remain alive today? Aren’t they sharing in the benefit of those people whom God intended to save? If it weren’t for God’s work of salvation at this stage, utilizing devils and Satans to do service, letting God’s chosen people discern negative things, and seeing through devils’ essence, God would have long destroyed them, because these people are unworthy of enjoying all the things that God created, and they squander and ruin the things God has made. How do you think God will feel when He sees this? Will He be in a good mood? (No.) Therefore, God urgently wants to save a group of people with normal humanity who are true human beings, and teach them how to comport themselves. When these people attain salvation, become qualified to remain and not to be destroyed—then God’s great work will be accomplished. That is to say, regardless of whether these things attain the level of being accurate and correct, when their laws of survival, their outlooks on life, the paths they take, as well as their pursuits, and the attitudes with which they treat God, the truth, and positive things, at the very least do not go against the truth, and certainly don’t go so far as to offend God’s disposition, when these people won’t be destroyed, because they are able to submit to God in a basic way—then God’s great work will be accomplished. What does it mean for this great work to be accomplished? It means that those whom God has saved can exist forever, can live on forever. To put it in human language, it means this human race will have successors, the ancestors of humans created by God will have successors, and there will be humans capable of managing all things. Then, God will feel at ease, then He will rest, and He won’t need to be concerned with things anymore. All things have their own rules and laws, already established by God, and God does not need to give them a single thought, idea, or project. All things exist within their respective rules and laws, humans have but to maintain and manage them. With such a race of humans, do you think God will still need to worry? Will He still need to be preoccupied? God will rest, and when He rests, the time for His great work to be accomplished will have come. Of course, this will also be a time for humans to celebrate—that is, they will ultimately attain salvation on the foundation of the path of pursuing the truth, no longer rebelling against God, but aligning with God’s will. Humans will have been gained by God, and they will no longer have to taste death—then they will have already received salvation. Isn’t this something worth celebrating? (Yes.) Now, since there will be such tremendous benefits, and you know that God’s intentions are these, isn’t it worth it for people to let go of the small ideals and desires they held previously? (Yes.) It is appropriate any way you measure it. So, since it is appropriate, shouldn’t you let go? (Yes.) In theory, everyone knows they should let go, but how is it specifically done? Actually, it’s quite simple. It means you no longer take any action, put forth any effort, or pay any price for the sake of your ideals and wishes. You no longer let them occupy your mind or make any sacrifices for them. Instead, you turn back to God, let go of your personal ideals and desires, stop obsessing over them, and even stop dreaming about them when you dream. Instead, bit by bit in your heart you shift your direction and inclination toward the path of pursuing the truth and attaining salvation. Day in and day out, everything you do, the thoughts, energy, and price that you pay, are all done for the sake of pursuing the truth and attaining salvation—this is how you gradually let go.

Concerning today’s fellowship about the topic “letting go of people’s pursuits, ideals, and desires,” have I fellowshipped about it comprehensibly? Do you know how to let go? Some people might say, “Oh, I’ve already been letting go before You even brought it up.” But that’s not necessarily true. In fact, it’s only through the process of pursuing the truth that people gradually see through the world’s evil tide and also gradually see through and let go of the path of pursuing fame and profit taken by unbelievers. If you haven’t yet pursued the truth, and you’re merely thinking about letting go in your heart, that isn’t at all the same as truly letting go. You preparing to let go and truly letting go are two separate things—there is still a difference. Therefore, the most important thing is to begin pursuing the truth, and that should not change no matter when—it is the most important thing. Once you start pursuing the truth, letting go of ideals and desires becomes easier. If you don’t accept the truth but say, “I really want to let go of these ideals and desires. I don’t want to be dyed in the vast dyeing vat or ground up in the meat grinder,” and if you still want to survive, I’m telling you that’s not possible. There’s no way, you won’t get such a good deal! If you don’t wish to pursue the truth but still want to let go of ideals and desires, that is impossible. All normal people have ideals and desires, especially those who have a few gifts or talents. Where is there a person who is happy being lonely and willingly resigns themselves to living a mundane life? Nowhere is there a person like this. Everyone wants to stand out, to make something of themselves, to have a certain aura about them, and to make their life more comfortable. If you want to let go of personal ideals and desires, attain salvation, and live out a meaningful life, then you must accept the truth, pursue the truth, and submit to God’s work—this way you will have hope. Listening to God’s words and following God is the only way. Therefore, despite all apparent changes one thing remains essentially the same—the pursuit of the truth. This is the most important topic, isn’t it? (Yes.) Alright, let’s end today’s fellowship about our topic here. Goodbye!

December 17, 2022