By Xiaole, China

In October 2023, the leaders arranged for me to make special effects. At first, I just learned some basic operations, and this didn’t require much technical skill. After studying, I quickly created some effects. In order to create better and more realistic special effects, I needed to learn more techniques. But I had some concerns, “These techniques are quite difficult, and I’m not sure if I can learn them.” Later, when studying the tutorials, there were some operations I remembered at the time but later forgot. Sometimes, I didn’t understand the points in the tutorial, so it was tough to learn them. After learning for a period of time, I felt it was too mentally exhausting, so I wanted to pull back. At that time, I saw a brother in the team learning graphic design, and I thought, “Why hasn’t the supervisor arranged for me to do graphic design? I’ve studied this before, so it’d be easier for me to get started if I were to do it, and this way, I’ll be able to take things a little easier.” Later, I told the brother my thoughts, but he said there weren’t enough people doing special effects duties, so they suggested that I keep studying special effects. I felt that this made sense, so I decided to keep studying. Two or three months later, I’d studied some tutorials and started working on more difficult special effects. When I encountered a difficulty, I didn’t bother to do any research, and I’d just go straight to the brother I cooperated with. The brother would patiently explain things to me, and the problem would quickly be solved. I’d think to myself, “Next time, when I have a difficulty, I’ll just ask my partner for help. Things are much easier this way, and I don’t have to worry or think so much.” Later, I stopped focusing on studying and delving into technical skills, and I’d normally just make some simple special effects, so my skills improved very slowly. At the end of March 2024, we needed to create a more complex special effect, and I thought to myself, “This is going to be kind of a hassle to make. I’ll have to put in quite a lot of effort to study the tutorials, and I’ll have to search for information from various sources, and it’ll be physically exhausting. I might as well just have my partner do it.” Later, I saw my partner had improved his technical skills by making this special effect, while I, on the other hand, hadn’t made any progress so I felt a bit guilty and had some regrets. My skills weren’t that great in the first place, and if I had worked closely with my partner to delve into some complex special effects, I could have improved some of my skills too.

After that, I started to wonder, “Why do I never want to put in the effort to study, research, and overcome difficulties in my duty?” Later, I read God’s words: “Coveting the comforts of the flesh is also a serious issue. What do you think are some manifestations of coveting the comforts of the flesh? What examples can you provide from what you’ve seen in your own experiences? Does enjoying the benefits of status count? (Yes.) Anything else? (Preferring easy tasks to difficult ones when doing one’s duties, and always wanting to pick light work.) When doing a duty, people always pick light work, work that isn’t tiring, and that does not involve braving the elements outdoors. This is picking easy jobs and shirking hard ones, and it is a manifestation of coveting the comforts of the flesh. What else? (Always complaining when their duty is a little hard, a little tiring, when it involves paying a price.) (Being preoccupied with food and clothing, and the pleasures of the flesh.) These are all manifestations of coveting the comforts of the flesh. When such a person sees that a task is too laborious or risky, they foist it off on someone else; they themselves only do leisurely work, and they make excuses, saying that they are of poor caliber, that they lack work capability, and cannot shoulder this task—when in fact, it is because they covet the comforts of the flesh. They do not wish to suffer, regardless of what work they do or what duty they perform. … There’s also when people always complain about difficulties while doing their duty, when they don’t want to put any effort in, when, as soon as they have a little downtime, they take a rest, chatter idly, or partake in leisure and entertainment. And when work picks up and it breaks the rhythm and routine of their lives, they are unhappy and dissatisfied with it. They grumble and complain, and they become perfunctory in doing their duty. This is coveting the comforts of the flesh, is it not? … Are people who indulge in the comforts of the flesh suitable for doing a duty? As soon as someone brings up the subject of doing their duty, or talks about paying a price and suffering hardship, they keep shaking their heads. They have too many problems, they are full of complaints, and they are filled with negativity. Such people are useless, they are not qualified to do their duty, and should be eliminated” (The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (2)). After reading God’s words, I realized that always complaining about hardships, shrinking back when faced with difficulties in my duties, and only thinking about doing the easy and convenient tasks is choosing the easy work and indulging in fleshly comfort. People who don’t want to endure any hardship or pay any price are unable to do any real work. People like this are useless and can only be eliminated. I was exactly the kind of lazy person exposed by God. I was well aware that the special effects duty was short-handed, but I thought learning this skill required too much effort and was too mentally taxing, and whenever I had difficulties, I wanted to shrink back, unwilling to suffer and pay the price to learn. When I saw a brother in the team learning graphic design, I thought that since I had some experience in this field and graphic design wasn’t too difficult, I wanted to do graphic design and get out of special effects duties. Later, when making more complex special effects, whenever I encountered difficult technical issues, I’d just ask my partner to solve them, and I wouldn’t proactively study or research deeply, resulting in my skills improving very slowly. I chose to do the duties that were easier to do, only wanting to do simple, easy tasks that didn’t require much mental or physical effort, and whenever I encountered difficulties, I wanted to give up my duties, without any intention of overcoming challenges and satisfying God. With this attitude, I couldn’t learn any skills, much less fulfill my duties, and I would only become useless and be eliminated by God. I didn’t want to go on like this anymore. Later, I took the initiative to study more complex special effects skills, and I found that they weren’t as difficult as I had imagined. After some time, my technical skills improved significantly. The concepts I initially didn’t understand became clearer, and I could solve most problems. I was very happy.

But after a while, I became content with the status quo again. Sometimes, when I saw my partner delving into complex techniques, I thought to myself, “Mastering those techniques will be pretty hard, and all those unfamiliar codes just give me a headache. Learning them would call for a great price and a lot of mental effort. It would be so tiring! It’s good enough that I’ve already gotten this far. No need to make things harder for myself. I’ll just let my partner research these difficult skills, and I’ll just do what I’m capable of.” My partner asked if I wanted to learn more difficult skills, and verbally, I agreed, saying that I’d learn them if I had time, but in reality, I never studied those things. One time, he noticed that I was still studying the same set of tutorials from before, and he said, “You’ve been doing this duty for 8 or 9 months now; how is it you still haven’t finished this set?” His words stung, but he was right. Really, if I had studied this tutorial set properly, I could have finished it in 3 or 4 months, but I’d stopped focusing on studying it seriously once I had mastered some techniques, so I still hadn’t finished learning it. How could I make progress like this? Seeing this constant attitude of mine toward my duty made me feel very uncomfortable, so I prayed, asking God to guide me to know myself and learn my lessons.

I read God’s words: “Lazy people can’t do anything. To summarize it in two words, they are useless people; they have a second-class disability. No matter how good the caliber of lazy people is, it is nothing more than window dressing; even though they have good caliber, it is of no use. They are too lazy—they know what they are supposed to do, but they don’t do it, and even if they know something is a problem, they do not seek the truth to resolve it, and though they know what hardships they should suffer in order for the work to be effective, they are unwilling to endure these worthwhile hardships—so they cannot gain any truths, and they cannot do any real work. They do not wish to endure the hardships people are supposed to; they only know to indulge in comfort, enjoy times of joy and leisure, and enjoy a free and relaxed life. Are they not useless? People who cannot endure hardship don’t deserve to live. Those who always wish to live the life of a parasite are people without conscience or reason; they are beasts, and such people are unfit even to perform labor. Because they cannot endure hardship, even when they do perform labor, they are not able to do it well, and if they wish to gain the truth, there is even less hope of that. Someone who cannot suffer and does not love the truth is a useless person; they are unqualified even to perform labor. They are a beast, without a shred of humanity. Such people must be eliminated; only this accords with God’s intentions” (The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (8)). God exposes that lazy people are useless, parasitic, and devoid of humanity, and God really detests such people. Contemplating God’s words, I reflected on my behavior in my duty: I thought of difficulties as troublesome, shrank back when I encountered hardships, and didn’t want to suffer even a little. Seeing my partner studying and delving into new techniques, I felt that those techniques were too difficult and troublesome, so I didn’t want to study them. I thought that it was already good enough that I’d reached the level of skill that I had, and so people shouldn’t make such high demands of me. I was truly beyond hopeless. Although I was doing my duty, I didn’t put any effort into improving my skills, and didn’t delve into new techniques, which meant I couldn’t create complex effects. A tutorial set that could have been completed in three to four months took me nine months. I was eating the food provided by God’s house and enjoying God’s grace, and yet I felt at peace with just doing this little work, without thinking about how to improve my professional skills and work efficiency. I was living the life of a parasite. I truly lacked humanity, and I was exactly the kind of beast with no conscience or reason that God exposed. If I’d put in the effort to study, my skills would definitely have improved from what they were. But I just indulged in physical comfort, and was unwilling to suffer and pay a price. I was always staying in my comfort zone, unwilling to put in effort, and I just reaped the fruits of others’ labor. Though my flesh didn’t end up tired, I made very little progress in my skills, and I couldn’t play a key role in my duties. This was just as God said: “Lazy people can’t do anything.” The way I was doing my duty wasn’t smart, but foolish!

Later, I read God’s words: “Some people appear to have submission in doing their duty, doing whatever the Above arranges. But when asked, ‘Do you do your duty perfunctorily? Do you do it according to the principles?’ they cannot provide any definite answers, only saying, ‘I do as the Above instructs and dare not run amok committing misdeeds.’ When asked if they have fulfilled their responsibility, they say, ‘Well, I’m doing what I’m supposed to.’ See? They always have this kind of attitude when doing their duty—they are unhurried, do things slowly, and are half-hearted. You can’t really find fault with them, but if you measure their performance of duty against the truth principles, it is inefficient and not up to standard. And yet, they don’t care, they continue acting as they did before, and they still don’t do the things they should take the initiative to do—they do not change at all. Aren’t they shamelessly stubborn? They always maintain this attitude: ‘You may have a thousand brilliant plans, but I have my own set of rules. This is just how I am. Let’s see what you can do to me. This is my attitude!’ They haven’t done anything immensely treacherous or evil, but they have also done few good deeds. What path would you say they are walking? Is this kind of attitude toward belief in God and one’s duty good? (No.) In the Bible, God says this: ‘So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth’ (Revelation 3:16). Being lukewarm, neither cold nor hot—is this attitude good? (No.) Some people think, ‘If I do evil and cause disruptions, I will be quickly condemned. But if I positively and proactively do things, I will get tired, and if I make a mistake doing something, I might get pruned, or maybe I’ll even be dismissed, which would be so embarrassing! So I stay lukewarm, neither cold nor hot. Whatever you ask me to do, I will do it. But if you don’t tell me to do something, I won’t intervene. This way, I won’t get tired, and on top of that people won’t be able to find fault with me. This approach is great!’ Is this way of conducting oneself good? (No.) You know that it is not good, so how should your practice change? If you never seek to walk the path of pursuing the truth and still persist in living by Satan’s philosophies, then you are doomed to have no hope of attaining salvation” (The Word, Vol. 7. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (11)). God exposes that people only do superficial work in their duties, and they don’t actively and proactively carry out their responsibilities. This is doing their duties in a skin-deep, lukewarm way, and these people will be ultimately eliminated by God. I felt that my state was very dangerous. I lacked an active and proactive attitude in my duty. I was always on autopilot, neither hot nor cold, and I was content as long as I could get by without causing any disturbance or disruption. I was making very little progress in my duties, just doing simple tasks and muddling through. By doing my duties in a lukewarm manner, I was being shamelessly stubborn just as God exposes, not wanting to suffer physically, and just wanting to casually put in just a little effort to attain an outcome in which I wouldn’t die. I could deceive myself, but not God, and if I didn’t repent, I would ultimately be eliminated.

Afterward, I pondered, “Why am I so lazy, and why do I indulge in comfort? What is the root cause of this issue?” Later, I read God’s words: “For many years, the thoughts that people have relied upon for their survival have been corroding their hearts to the point that they have become treacherous, cowardly, and despicable. Not only do they lack willpower and resolve, but they have also become greedy, arrogant, and willful. They are utterly lacking any resolve that transcends the self, and even more, they don’t have a bit of courage to shake off the strictures of these dark influences. People’s thoughts and lives are so rotten that their perspectives on believing in God are still unbearably hideous, and even when people speak of their perspectives on belief in God it is simply unbearable to hear. People are all cowardly, incompetent, despicable, and fragile. They do not feel disgust for the forces of darkness, and they do not feel love for the light and the truth; instead, they do their utmost to expel them” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Why Are You Unwilling to Be a Foil?). After being corrupted by Satan, people live by satanic poisons like “Life is all about eating well and dressing nice,” “Life is short, so enjoy it while you can,” and “Treat yourself well.” They make the pursuit of fleshly enjoyment their goal; they think that living an easy and carefree life is happiness and what it means to enjoy life, so in everything they do, they don’t want to suffer or pay a price. Looking back, when I worked in a small city with a slower pace, the work was relatively easy, and I enjoyed that kind of slow and leisurely life. Although the pay was a bit low, I didn’t care. I felt that as long as I was thrifty, it was fine. After finding God, I was the same. I did my duties without striving for progress, and I was always lukewarm and satisfied with the status quo. When I saw that my duty in special effects required learning difficult techniques, I wallowed in difficulty without striving for progress, and I didn’t want to learn the techniques even though I could have mastered them by paying a price. I was just content with treading water and maintaining the status quo, and I had no desire to satisfy or consider God. God graced me with the opportunity to do duties, with the intention that in the course of my duties, I would pursue the truth, cast off my corrupt disposition, and fulfill my duties. But I always indulged in fleshly comfort and was unwilling to suffer or pay a price to fulfill my duties. After so many years of doing my duties, I still hadn’t mastered any professional skills, and I hadn’t learned any techniques. I was unable to handle things on my own, and I was an utter waste of space. I saw that I was living by Satan’s thoughts and views, with no dignity or integrity, and not only did I fail to fulfill my duties, but more importantly, I couldn’t gain the truth, and I wouldn’t be saved by God. Satanic poisons are negative things and they mislead people, causing them to fall into depravity. I didn’t want to live this way any longer. I prayed to God, willing to turn around my attitude toward my duties, rebel against my flesh, and do my duty wholeheartedly.

Later, I read a passage of God’s words regarding how Noah treated God’s commission, and I found some paths of practice. Almighty God says: “Faced with all manner of troubles, difficult situations, and challenges, Noah did not shrink back. When some of his more difficult engineering tasks frequently failed and underwent damage, even though Noah felt upset and anxious in his heart, when he thought of God’s words, when he remembered every word that God commanded of him, and God’s elevation of him, then he often felt extremely motivated: ‘I cannot give up, I cannot discard what God commanded and entrusted me to do; this is God’s commission, and since I accepted it, since I heard the words spoken by God and the voice of God, and since I accepted this from God, then I should submit absolutely, which is what ought to be attained by a human being.’ So, no matter what kind of difficulties he faced, no matter what kind of mockery or slander he encountered, no matter how exhausted his body became, how tired, he did not forsake what had been entrusted to him by God, and constantly kept in mind every single word of what God had said and commanded. No matter how his environments changed, no matter how great the difficulty he faced, he trusted that none of this would go on forever, that God’s words alone would never pass away, and only that which God commanded to be done would surely be accomplished. Noah had in him true faith in God, and the submission that he ought to have, and he continued to build the ark that God had asked him to build. Day by day, year by year, Noah grew older, but his faith did not diminish, and there was no change in his attitude and determination to complete God’s commission. Though there were times when his body felt tired and exhausted, and he fell ill, and in his heart he was weak, his determination and perseverance toward completing God’s commission and submitting to God’s words did not lessen. During the years that Noah built the ark, Noah was practicing listening to and submitting to the words God had said, and he was also practicing an important truth of a created being and ordinary person needing to complete God’s commission” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Excursus Three: How Noah and Abraham Obeyed God’s Words and Submitted to Him (Part Two)). Thinking about it, no matter how great the difficulties Noah faced in building the ark, he never complained, much less shrank back. He never forgot God’s commission, persevered for 120 years, and finally completed the ark, fulfilling God’s commission. Noah’s determination and perseverance to accomplish God’s commission and submit to God’s words gained God’s approval. Then I looked at myself again. When facing slight difficulties in my duties, I wanted to shrink back, and I lacked the resolve to suffer and pay a price, and the will to do my duties well to satisfy God. In fact, I had ready-made tutorials to learn the techniques and could also consult my partner, so I wasn’t incapable of learning these things, but because I’d have to suffer and pay a price, I didn’t want to study. I saw that I lacked any loyalty to my duties, and that if I’d been involved in building the ark, I would have run away long ago, and the ark would never have been completed. God fellowshipped Noah’s example in such detail, hoping that we could emulate Noah’s attitude toward God’s commission. When facing difficulties in my duties in the future, I shouldn’t escape or shrink back again, I had to stop wanting to just do easier work and indulge in fleshly comfort, and I had to fulfill the responsibilities that I should carry out. Also, I had to pay more of a price to learn professional skills and fulfill my duties.

After that, I scheduled time to learn new skills. In early October of 2024, we needed to create a new special effect. This type of effect had always been created by my partner, so I thought that if I were to create it, in case I encountered difficulties, I’d have to put in a lot of time and mental effort to ponder over them, and it would be too troublesome. I realized that I was considering my flesh again, so I felt that this time, I couldn’t shrink back just because this seemed troublesome. Then I said, “I’ll create this special effect.” I thought of God’s words: “If you could have prayed to God, sought the truth, and put your whole heart and mind into it, if you could have cooperated in this way, then God would have prepared everything for you in advance, so that when you were handling matters, everything would fall into place, and get good results. You would not need to exert a vast amount of energy; when you did your utmost to cooperate, God would have already arranged everything for you” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three). God looks at people’s attitudes toward duties coming upon them. If people have a cooperative heart, God will make a way for them, so although I had never made this kind of special effect before, I had to rely on God to cooperate. Afterward, I prayed to God and asked for His guidance, and while working, I searched for information and quickly had some ideas. Although I encountered some difficulties later during the process of making the special effects, through studying and exploration, the problems were solved in the end, and I felt quite at ease. Also, in terms of my skills, I made some improvements.

In December, I wanted to research a new method to create special effects. If it worked, it would improve efficiency. Things went quite smoothly at first, but along the way, I encountered a technical challenge. I tried all kinds of methods, but I just couldn’t solve it. My partner also came to help me look at it, but we couldn’t think of a good solution. I thought to myself, “This problem can’t be solved with my current techniques, so maybe I should come back to it once my skills have improved.” But then I thought of how in the past, when I was doing my duties, I would always shrink back at the first sign of difficulty, so now I didn’t want to give up easily, and prayed to God for guidance. The next day, I continued my research, and after repeated testing, unexpectedly, the problem was solved. I was very happy, and I thanked God for His guidance. I realized that if we put our hearts into our duties and pay a price, we will be able to do our duties well, and as long as we are willing to cooperate with God, God will guide us. Now I still have a lot of shortcomings in my technical skills, and I have started learning more difficult techniques. When learning new techniques, I no longer wallow in difficulty, and instead pray and rely on God to fulfill my duty. I feel that doing my duties that way with God’s guidance is truly great! Thank God!