By Han Jiuwei, China

I have been repairing electronic equipment in the church for over two years. When I first took on this duty, I thought it was very challenging because I had to learn some new professional skills and new techniques. I was willing to dedicate time and energy to researching it and was not afraid of suffering or paying a price. The brothers and sisters around me evaluated me as bearing a burden in doing my duty. I was very happy to hear that. However, as the time I had been doing this duty grew longer, I was able to get something of a grasp of the technical skills, and the work went quite smoothly. So I started to feel that this duty was ordinary and dull. Faced with repetitive work and operations all day long, I thought to myself, “Will I have to carry on like this forever? It’s too dull! On the technical side, I’ve mastered enough to get by. I know how to resolve most of the problems I encounter, so there are no big difficulties. Carrying on like this would be too boring! It would be better if I could do another duty and switch to a new environment. I’d come into contact with some fresh people, events, and things, and maybe then I’d be bursting with energy to do my duty. Even if I’m not familiar with the professional skills, I can learn them from scratch—that would be just fine.” I wanted to meet the supervisor to discuss my ideas. But then I thought about how I had been doing this duty for a long time, and a suitable person couldn’t be found to take over my duty straight away, so I didn’t say anything. However, by not saying anything, my heart still felt repressed and dejected. Every day, I went through the motions of repairing equipment. I wasn’t earnest or careful in anything I did, and spent my days vegetating.

Because I didn’t take care in doing my duty, the equipment I repaired repeatedly experienced problems, and sometimes had to be repaired repeatedly. A computer repair that should have taken three days was dragged out and took five days or even longer, delaying my brothers and sisters from using it. Once, I picked up a computer, and when I saw that it was a common problem, I got fed up, and carelessly completed the repair to get it over with. Afterward, the brother I was partnered with discovered that the computer still had a fault when he checked it, and it needed to be disassembled and repaired again. Another time, the supervisor asked me to teach two new brothers, Wu Ming and Zheng Yang, how to repair equipment. I just briefly talked about how to deal with common faults, and then got the two brothers to train to do repairs by themselves. A few days passed and the equipment hadn’t been repaired yet, so I went to inquire about it and find out what was happening. Wu Ming said it was being repaired. I thought to myself, “This kind of equipment is not difficult at all to repair. Why hasn’t it been repaired yet? Forget it. It’s fine if they are in the middle of it.” After a few more days, they still hadn’t fixed it, but I just urged them to make progress, and didn’t actually find out about their difficulties or the status of the repair. Another two days passed before I found out that they hadn’t mastered the crucial step, so they hadn’t made any progress at all. When I saw that problems kept coming up in succession in my duty, hindering progress, and everyone was suffering as a result, I felt self-reproachful in my heart. I realized that this was caused by me doing my duty in a perfunctory manner, and so I searched for God’s words to resolve my state. I read the words of God: “People who like to be perfunctory do not have conscience or reason, their humanity is poor, they are untrustworthy, and they are so unreliable. Will the Holy Spirit do work on such people? Absolutely not. So, those who like to be perfunctory in their duties will never be perfected by God, and they will never be used by Him. Those who like to be perfunctory are all deceitful, full of evil motives, and totally lacking in conscience and reason. They act without principles or lower limits; they act based only on their own preferences, and are capable of doing all kinds of bad things. All their actions are based on their moods: If they are in a good mood, and they are pleased, then they will do slightly better. If they are in a bad mood, and they are displeased, then they will be perfunctory. If they are angry, then they might be arbitrary and reckless, and delay important matters. They do not have God in their hearts at all. They just let the days pass by, sitting around and waiting for death. … Heartless people have no lower limits in their actions; nothing can restrain them. Can such people handle matters based on conscience? (No.) Why not? (They do not possess the standards of conscience, nor do they have humanity, or lower limits.) That’s right. They do not have the standards of conscience in their actions; they act based on their preferences, doing whatever they want to, based on their moods. Whether the results they get in their duties are good or bad depends on their mood. If their mood is good, the results are good, but if their mood is bad, the results are bad. Can doing one’s duty in this way possibly reach an acceptable standard? They do their duties based on their moods, not the truth principles; thus, it is very difficult for them to put the truth into practice, and very difficult for them to obtain God’s approval. Those who act based on physical preferences do not put the truth into practice at all” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Man Is the Greatest Beneficiary of God’s Management Plan). “Many people perform their duties in a perfunctory way, never taking it seriously, as if they are working for nonbelievers. They do things in a crude, superficial, indifferent and negligent way, as if everything is a joke. Why is this? They are nonbelievers laboring; disbelievers performing duties. These people are exceedingly roguish; they are dissolute and unrestrained, and they are no different to nonbelievers. When they do things for themselves, they are certainly not perfunctory, so why then are they not in the least bit earnest or diligent when it comes to performing their duties? Whatever they do, whatever duty they perform, there is a quality of playfulness and mischief. These people are always perfunctory and have a quality of deceit about them. Do people like this have humanity? They certainly do not have humanity; neither do they have the least degree of conscience and reason. Like wild donkeys or wild horses, they require constant management and supervision. They deceive and trick God’s house. Does this mean they possess any sincere belief in Him? Are they expending themselves for Him? They certainly fall short and are not qualified to labor. If such people were employed by anyone else, they would be fired within a few days. In God’s house it is entirely accurate to say that they are laborers and hired workers, and they can only be eliminated” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three). From God’s words, I saw that a person who does their duty without considering the interests of the church or their own responsibilities, and who constantly follows their desires, goes by their preferences, and does whatever they want, is a person without humanity. I thought about how my recent performance in doing my duty had been exactly like this. After doing this duty for a long time, I had mastered some of the techniques and professional skills, and had felt like my duty was not fresh or challenging anymore. So I had started to get careless in doing my duty, and was perfunctory whenever possible. I hadn’t taken care in repairing equipment and had missed obvious faults, leading to rework, and delaying progress. Wu Ming and Zheng Yang had just started training to do this duty, and needed more communication and follow-up so that they could familiarize themselves with the repair techniques as quickly as possible. However, I hadn’t borne a burden and hadn’t guided them in detail. As a result, they had made slow progress in their professional skills, and the repairs had been delayed. My personal preferences had weighed far too heavily in the performance of my duty, and I hadn’t thought about protecting the interests of the church at all. I had been perfunctory and neglectful and followed my desires in doing my duty. I really had been too lacking in humanity, and utterly untrustworthy! I thought of God’s words: “Simply going through the motions when performing your duty is a major taboo. If you are always going through the motions while performing your duty, then you have no way of performing your duty to an acceptable standard. If you want to perform your duty with loyalty, you must first fix your problem of going through the motions. You should take steps to rectify the situation as soon as you notice it. If you are muddleheaded, are never able to notice problems, always just go through the motions, and do things in a perfunctory fashion, then you will have no way of doing your duty well. Therefore, you must always put your heart into your duty. This opportunity was very difficult for people to come by! When God gives them a chance, yet they do not grasp it, then that opportunity is lost—and even if, later on, they wish to find such an opportunity, it might not come up again. God’s work waits for no one, and neither do chances to perform one’s duty” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Life Entry Begins With the Performance of Duty). From God’s words, I realized that God gives people a limited number of opportunities to do duties. I had already delayed the work by going by personal preferences in doing my duty and doing it in a perfunctory manner. If I were to continue following my desires in this way without thought of repentance, in the end I would certainly lose my chance to do duties! I was not willing to continue like this. Then I prayed to God in repentance and began to be earnest and attentive in my duty. I repaired equipment with care, and at the same time, I meticulously guided Wu Ming and Zheng Yang on their techniques. By practicing in this way, my state was much better, fewer problems emerged with the repairs, and the feeling that doing my duty was tedious and uninteresting also lessened a lot.

Afterward, I reflected on myself: Why, after I had been doing one duty for quite a long time, had I displayed tedium and boredom and started being perfunctory? A few days later, I read the words of God: “If we say that enjoying thrills is a corrupt disposition, then what kind of corrupt disposition is it? Is it arrogance, deceitfulness, or viciousness? (It is none of these.) It is unrelated to any type of corrupt disposition. Then what kind of problem is it? (It is a problem of humanity.) What kind of problem of humanity is it? Is it being somewhat out of line? (Yes.) It is conducting oneself improperly and in a way that is out of line, enjoying thrills, and being restless. Restlessness indicates a lack of normal humanity. This does not involve conscience but primarily reflects a lack of rationality in normal humanity. Such people cannot stick to one task or do their duties in a way that is rule-abiding and dutiful. They are unable to do things like adults; they lack mature thinking, a mature style of personal conduct, and a mature way of doing things. At the very least, this is a defect of their humanity. Of course, this does not rise to the level of being a problem of their character but relates to an attitude toward the way they conduct themselves and act. Enjoying novelty and thrills, being inconsistent in whatever they do, being unable to persevere, being restless and improper, and always wanting to seek thrills and try out fancy new things—issues of this type fall under defects of humanity. People who enjoy thrills lack the rationality of normal humanity; it is not easy for them to bear the responsibilities and work that adults should bear. Whatever job they do, as long as they do it for a long time and it loses its novelty, they find it boring, lose interest in doing it, and want to seek a sense of novelty and thrill. Without thrills, they feel things are bland and may even experience a sense of spiritual emptiness. When they feel this way, their hearts become restless, and they want to seek thrills or things that interest them. They constantly want to do something unconventional. Whenever they find the work they are doing or the affairs they are handling boring or uninteresting, they lose the desire to continue. Even if it is work they should be doing or work that is meaningful and valuable, they cannot persevere. … People of this type often appear outwardly to have no major problems. If you do not discern such people or see through to their essence or the essence of this kind of problem, you might think, ‘These people just have unstable dispositions; they are in their thirties or forties but are still immature like children.’ In actuality, deep within, people of this type continually seek thrills. No matter what they do, they lack the thoughts and awareness of adults, as well as the approach and attitude of adults toward doing things. Therefore, such people are very problematic. Maybe their humanity is not bad and their character is not particularly vile, but due to this defect of their humanity, it is very difficult for them to be competent for significant work, especially certain important items of work” (The Word, Vol. 7. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (9)). After reading God’s words, I finally realized that the main reason I had manifested tedium and boredom in doing my duty and had been perfunctory and inattentive was that there was a problem with my humanity. I liked novelty and excitement, and disliked the mundane and ordinary. I had pursued doing a duty that was full of changes and challenges, rather than sticking with the same work and doing it consistently from beginning to end. Just like when I first did my repair duties, I came into contact with new things, and I didn’t have such a good grasp of some of the professional skills involved in this duty, so there were some challenges and difficulties. I could have many fresh and exciting experiences in doing my duty, so I liked this duty and was willing to pay a price. However, after I had been doing this duty for a long time, the novelty had worn off, and I had started to feel that this duty was boring and dull. Although I had been doing my duty on the outside, my heart was fed up, and every day I had been repairing equipment in a perfunctory manner. In my heart, I had even been thinking about changing to a new environment and doing a different duty. I hadn’t treated my duty with loyalty. When I hadn’t felt any novelty or excitement in doing my duty, I couldn’t rouse my interest in it. I had been doing my duty based completely on my personal preferences. In how I conducted myself and acted, I had been out of line and restless. I had lacked consistency, and hadn’t borne the responsibilities of an adult. It had been hard to get anything done this way, and I had been utterly untrustworthy. In particular, I read God’s words: “Whenever they find the work they are doing or the affairs they are handling boring or uninteresting, they lose the desire to continue. Even if it is work they should be doing or work that is meaningful and valuable, they cannot persevere. … Maybe their humanity is not bad and their character is not particularly vile, but due to this defect of their humanity, it is very difficult for them to be competent for significant work, especially certain important items of work.” From God’s words, I saw that this type of flaw in humanity is extremely harmful. I was responsible for repairing equipment, and based on my strengths, it was appropriate for the church to arrange for me to do this duty. However, I had treated my duty according to my preferences, and had become fed up and perfunctory as soon as I didn’t feel it was fresh or interesting anymore. I had even thought about altering my duty. Where was my sense of loyalty there? If I didn’t turn things around and did my duty without any sense of responsibility, I would be at risk of being revealed and dismissed.

When I understood this, I thought of Noah, who persisted in building the ark for 120 years, so I looked up God’s words to read. Almighty God says: “How many years did it take Noah to build the ark? (120 years.) What does 120 years represent for the people of today? It is longer than a normal person’s lifetime. Longer, perhaps, than even two people’s lifetimes. And yet for these 120 years, Noah did one thing, and he did the same thing every day. In that pre-industrial time, in that era before information communication, in that age where everything relied on people’s two hands and physical labors, Noah did the same thing every day. For 120 years, he did not give up or stop. One hundred twenty years: how can we conceptualize this? Could anyone else in the human race have remained committed to doing one thing for 120 years? (No.) That no one could remain committed to doing one thing for 120 years is no surprise. And yet there was one man who, for 120 years, persevered, without alteration, in what God had entrusted to him, never complaining or giving up, impervious to any external environment, and ultimately completing it exactly as God had said. What kind of matter was this? In the human race, this was rare, uncommon—unique, even. In the long tide of human history, among all the human races that had followed God, this was entirely without analog. In terms of the immensity and difficulty of the engineering involved, the level of physicality and exertion it required, and the duration it entailed, this was no easy venture, which is why, when Noah did this thing, it was unique among mankind, and he is a model and exemplar to all who follow God. Noah had heard but a few messages, and at that time God had not expressed many words, and so there is no question that Noah did not understand many truths. He did not comprehend modern science or modern knowledge. He was an exceedingly ordinary man, an unremarkable member of the human race. Yet in one respect, he was unlike anyone else: He knew to obey God’s words, he knew how to follow and abide by God’s words, he knew what man’s proper position was, and he was able to truly believe and submit to God’s words—nothing more. These few simple tenets were sufficient to allow Noah to accomplish all that God had entrusted to him, and he persevered in this for not just a few months, nor several years, nor several decades, but for over a century. Isn’t this number astonishing? Who could have done this but Noah? (No one.) … That Noah was able to complete God’s commission was because when Noah heard God’s words, he was able to firmly keep them in his heart; for him, God’s commission was a lifelong undertaking, his faith was unwavering, his will unaltered for a hundred years. It was because he had a God-fearing heart, he was a real person, and he had the utmost reason that God entrusted the building of the ark to him” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Excursus Two: How Noah and Abraham Obeyed God’s Words and Submitted to Him (Part One)). After reading the words of God, I was very touched and ashamed. Noah had not heard many of God’s words, nor did he understand much truth, but he was able to persist in God’s commission for a hundred and twenty years. This was because he had a conscience and reason. When Noah heard God ask him to build the ark before the flood destroyed the world, Noah experienced God’s urgent intention, and he began to have a heart that showed consideration for God. He treated building the ark as the most important and urgent thing he had to do. While Noah was completing the huge project of building the ark, he faced difficulties, failures, illness, fatigue, a lack of understanding from his family, and the ridicule and slander of the people of the world, but from beginning to end, he persisted in God’s commission, and never thought about abandoning it. He also constantly felt profound gratitude that God had entrusted him with such an important commission, and was often inspired by God’s exaltation of him. Noah’s attitude toward God’s words and God’s commission was to obey and accept; submit and persist. This was a manifestation of Noah’s possession of a conscience and reason. This type of character is truly so precious! When I saw God ask “Noah was able to persist for 120 years. How many years could you persist for?” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Excursus Two: How Noah and Abraham Obeyed God’s Words and Submitted to Him (Part One)). I truly had nothing to say in reply! Through these years, I had enjoyed the watering and provision of so many of God’s words, and God’s care and protection, but after doing equipment repair duty for only two years, I couldn’t persist any longer, and started to be careless and perfunctory. I truly had no scrap of conscience or reason, and was utterly untrustworthy! I felt extremely regretful and self-reproachful, and prayed to God in repentance, “Dear God, no matter how much longer I am asked to do this duty for, I am willing to do it properly, and I will not do it based on my own preferences anymore.”

Afterward, when we were summarizing, I discovered that there were still many problems in my duty. My repair skills were very average, and I still needed to keep learning skills. However, because I hadn’t been striving to make progress and hadn’t focused on putting effort into studying professional skills, my repair skills hadn’t improved much. I truly was so arrogant and self-righteous. I didn’t recognize my own shortcomings, and felt that I knew how to do this thing, or had mastered that thing, and that there were no more difficulties or challenges in this duty. I was really too ignorant, and didn’t know the true measure of myself at all. Afterward, I had to get serious about my duty in accordance with God’s requirements, discover my own deficiencies and shortcomings, and seek how to improve my skills so I could do my duty in a way that was up to standard.

Afterward, I no longer thought about changing my duty, but thought about how to do my duty well. When my mindset changed, my previous feelings of irritability and boredom disappeared, and I was able to dedicate my heart to my duties. No matter whether the problem is simple or difficult, I am able to treat it seriously, and spend time and effort to repair the equipment well as quickly as possible, not delaying my brothers and sisters from using it. I thank the exposure of God’s words for giving me some understanding of, and helping me make some changes in, my state in doing my duty. I thank God from the bottom of my heart!