Regarding the matter of suffering, you must first have the correct thoughts and views, and be certain what suffering is all about, why you suffer, and whether the goal and direction of your suffering are correct. If you have the correct thoughts and views on suffering, and you endure it so that you can cast off your corrupt dispositions and abide by the truth principles, and in enduring this suffering, you are following God’s way, then this suffering is an obligation you ought to fulfill as a created being. It is the practice you ought to have, and it is also your duty; it is what you ought to do as a true created being. This is a responsibility you cannot shirk; that is, this suffering is what you ought to bear. It’s just like how, when parents give birth to children, they must raise them; raising them to adulthood is the parents’ responsibility. No matter how much suffering they endure in the course of raising their children, this is the responsibility parents ought to fulfill, and there is nothing worth boasting about in this. This is how people have raised their young generation after generation. To raise children, one must bear this pain, which is itself a responsibility. To attain salvation, to practice the truth, and to uphold the truth principles and stand firm in one’s testimony, people also have to endure a lot of suffering. However, one thing is certain: This suffering is absolutely not a pointless sacrifice, and it is not meaningless suffering; rather, it is meaningful and valuable. If the goal of your suffering is to bear witness to God, to safeguard the existence of the truth, safeguard the existence of positive things, and safeguard the existence of just causes, and to uphold the truth principles and thus stand firm in your testimony, then the suffering you endure is valuable and meaningful. If the goal of your suffering is correct and positive, then this suffering is what you ought to endure. What does it mean that it is what you ought to endure? It means it is a responsibility you ought to bear and an obligation you ought to fulfill as a human being and as a created being under God’s dominion; in a word, you are “duty-bound.” What does it mean to be duty-bound? It means doing something without demanding anything, without trying to make a deal, and without seeking merit; it is simply what you ought to do. It’s just like when God commissioned Noah to build the ark. Noah paid the price of a hundred and twenty years to build the ark, but with whom did he try to claim credit? He did not try to claim credit with anyone. How much suffering did he endure while building the ark over those hundred and twenty years? No matter how much he suffered, in God’s eyes, whatever suffering he endured in accepting this commission was what he ought to have endured. This is because he was a human being, and he had to accept this pain while shouldering this responsibility, and this pain and his responsibility appeared at the same time, and ran their course simultaneously. As a human being, once you have accepted God’s commission, you must accept every kind of pain included within it; you are duty-bound to do so. What did Noah ultimately get in return for his suffering? He was able to survive in the ark and become the ancestor of the next generation of humankind; he exchanged his suffering for survival. Therefore, no matter how much he suffered while building the ark, he never felt that it was a contribution to humankind or to God. He had rationality; he never said such things. He felt that it was God’s salvation and God’s grace. Humankind today should also have this attitude. If you willingly do your duty and willingly accept God’s salvation, and no matter what duty you do, or how much you suffer and what you experience in doing your duty, your goal is to fulfill the commission and the duty given to you by the Creator, and to attain salvation, then what suffering shouldn’t you endure? Any suffering you endure is a responsibility and obligation you ought to fulfill. To put it plainly, it is your responsibility and obligation to endure it; it’s not worth boasting about. People always think, “I have suffered and paid a price. I must praise myself; I must let God know, and I must let people know, so that people have a good impression of me in their hearts, and so that I have high status and prestige among people.” This is superfluous and unnecessary. Through suffering, you have already gained what you ought to have gained. The truth and the life that God bestows upon you are the most precious things. No prestige, status, or high regard from others can compare to the truth you have gained. Since you have already gained the most precious thing, is there still any need to boast about your suffering and the price you’ve paid to get others to hold you in high regard? There is no need for that. Since you suffer and pay a price to gain the truth and attain salvation, you should not boast about enduring this suffering. Those with conscience and rationality will treat this matter correctly. What’s more, if you come to understand more truths through suffering and you come to understand God’s intentions more accurately, you will thank God for setting up these environments for you and be thankful for the suffering you endured. You will say, “Thankfully, there were those environments of suffering. Thankfully, there were those illnesses, disappointments, setbacks, dismissals, pruning, and judgment and chastisement set up by God. Thankfully, I have had these things to accompany me.” If you did not have these environments of suffering accompanying you, you could not possibly have the gains you have today. You must thank God, rather than treat suffering as capital that you can use to claim credit and recount before others. You see, when man has an accurate understanding of a certain type of thing that is in accordance with the truth, his viewpoints on such things will become accurate, his stance will be right, and his rationality will become normal. The root cause of abnormality in man’s rationality is that his opinions, viewpoints, stances, and perspectives on many things are fallacious and are based on the thoughts and views instilled in man by Satan. You therefore use fallacious thoughts and views, and view these things from a fallacious perspective. You always feel that, in suffering, you have been deeply wronged and put upon; you always want to vindicate yourself, always want to pour out your grievances to someone, and always want to be highly regarded by others, and gain a sense of satisfaction from their high regard. However, now that you recognize the value and significance of suffering, you can correctly accept the suffering that comes from God, and you are no longer resistant to it. When your stature grows a bit larger and your life grows somewhat, some of you will pray like Peter did, asking that God’s chastisement and judgment never leave you. Do you have this stature now? (Not yet, but we are willing to strive for it.) Just keep pursuing the truth and striving for it. As you understand more of the truth, the way you view things internally will change bit by bit, and your life will gradually grow.

Some people get uncommon or hard-to-cure illnesses in the course of doing their duties. Through experiencing these illnesses, they ultimately gain something. Regardless of whether the illness worsens, stays the same, or is cured, in short, what they ultimately gain from experiencing this suffering is an understanding of God’s intentions and knowledge of their own problems in various regards. They no longer treat God and the truth with the erroneous attitudes and methods they used to use. This gain is something you cannot get through any other kind of experience—it can only be attained through suffering. At that time, you will be thankful for this illness, saying, “Fortunately I had this illness; otherwise, it would be impossible for me to have such gains.” So, when you fellowship and share this experience with others, you will be fellowshipping about what you gained from your experience, what you reaped from it, and what truths people should understand within it, rather than emphasizing the suffering you endured. You will not be exalting and testifying to yourself before others about how much you suffered, how distressing it was, and how you ultimately came to have the resolve to suffer. You will not be doing it to testify to and praise yourself, but rather to share your own experiences and bear testimony to God. The issue of suffering must be comprehended in this way. The primary thing is what your goal in suffering is, and what the value and significance of your suffering is. But no matter what it is, whatever suffering people endure and however much they suffer, their suffering can never be a form of personal capital for them. In addition, corrupt humans live in the flesh. Even if you do not believe in God, do you not suffer in order to survive among people? (Yes, we have to suffer for this too.) Is it possible for the flesh to not suffer at all? (No.) Even if one does not believe in God, they still have to endure a lot of suffering. In one’s pursuit of fame, gain, status, academic success, and wealth, as well as in raising children and so on—all of these things entail suffering. Who doesn’t suffer? Living in this human world, people must endure suffering; it’s just that some suffering is devoid of value—the kind in which people rush about for the sake of survival and for fame and gain, vying with one another, trying to exclude one another, and framing one another. In the end, when they finally manage to get their fame, gain, and status, they are always worried about losing them, and they endure more suffering so as to not lose their status. With much difficulty, they do preserve their status, but they wind up physically and mentally exhausted, and emotionally drained. In this world, both the rich and the poor suffer. The rich have miseries of their own, and the poor have theirs as well. In short, it’s not easy living in this human world; everyone suffers. People who believe in God suffer relatively less in terms of their living and survival, because after they accept the truth, many of their thoughts and views become different from those of nonbelievers, and they are able to let go of many things, no longer making those pointless sacrifices or engaging in futile struggles—thus, they suffer relatively less in this regard. They are able to be content with just having food and clothing; they spend the rest of their time pursuing the truth, pursuing salvation, and fulfilling their duty as created beings, right? (Right.) People have to endure some suffering for the sake of their fleshly lives: They must suffer the pains of fatigue and illness, the enticement of various evil trends in the world, being ostracized, and the fighting and strife between people—they must endure all of this suffering. In addition, some people live in poverty and have no money for medical treatment when they fall ill. Many things don’t go as they wish, and they often feel helpless, but they endure all of this suffering. People suffer either way, but however much suffering you endure for the sake of the flesh is deserved; it is what you ought to endure. If you want to live, you have to suffer. Although the suffering endured by people who believe in God is somewhat similar in form to the suffering endured by nonbelievers, what believers ultimately gain is the truth, as well as worship of and submission to God. This suffering, then, is incredibly valuable and meaningful. You should thank God for setting up these suffering-filled living environments for you, making it so you can learn lessons and learn to submit to God and stand firm in your testimony each time you experience suffering, rather than using the experience of suffering as capital with which to flaunt and exalt yourself. Always exalting and testifying to oneself by talking about the suffering one has endured, in order to win others’ high regard—people of this type are shameful. People who are devoid of reason do nothing but shameful things. When people with reason do something that is lacking in reason, they feel ashamed; they put a stop to it and go no further, right? (Yes.)

I have fellowshipped a lot regarding the issue of suffering. Has My fellowshipping in this way been helpful to you? (Yes.) How has it helped you? (After hearing God’s fellowship, I understood that the kinds of suffering endured by the flesh are what man ought to endure, and that the suffering of experiencing judgment and chastisement, pruning, tribulations and trials, and so on, is also what man ought to endure. This is because man has satanic corrupt dispositions, and if man does not endure this suffering, his corrupt dispositions cannot be cast off. In addition, God just mentioned that whatever suffering man endures in order to fulfill his duty as a created being is his obligation and responsibility, and he should not use this as capital to try to claim credit from God. After God’s fellowship, I feel that I can now view suffering rationally.) After fellowshipping like this, some people who always pursue suffering will be liberated. Some people always think, “I must suffer, or else the brothers and sisters will look down on me and won’t elect me as a leader or worker next time. I must be able to put on a show, and learn to suffer in front of others.” You do not need to put on a show. If you have the time to do that, you would be better off spending it reading more of God’s words, understanding more of the truth, fulfilling your responsibilities and obligations, and doing your duties well, ultimately reaping gains in terms of the truth. Regardless of whether others hold you in high regard, if you yourself have reaped gains in terms of the truth, and if your corrupt dispositions have been cast off—and you ultimately earn for yourself the chance to be saved and the Creator’s acceptance—this is the most valuable thing; this is what a smart person would choose. If you always put on a show in front of others to make them hold you in high regard, and always claim credit and seek rewards in front of others, testifying about how much you have suffered, how many grievances you have endured, how you have expended yourself for God, how much of a price you have paid, and how much you have offered up, then this is a foolish way of doing things. Since you have paid such a great price, offered up so much, and suffered so much, then share with everyone your experiences from enduring this suffering and paying this price, and what you’ve gained from it, so that everyone can derive some benefit and find a path of practice. You should present the results you have gained and reaped—which aspects of God’s intentions you have understood, and which aspects of the truth have taken root within you and become your life. You should fellowship and share these things. When the brothers and sisters do not understand a certain aspect of the truth, or do not know how to act according to the truth principles in a certain matter, you should fellowship your personal experiences to provide help and guidance. Since you have suffered so much, you must have gained quite a lot, so share it; many people want to get help from you. You do not need to talk about the process of your suffering, or about how much you have suffered. Just talk about which aspects of the truth you have come to know after suffering. Use your knowledge and what you’ve gained to bring people before God, resolve their conflicts with God, and resolve their incorrect thoughts and views toward Him. Bringing them before God is bringing them into the truth reality. This is all that is asked of you; see if you can achieve it. If you can, then you have fulfilled your responsibility and obligation, and your suffering is valuable and meaningful. If you cannot even meet this requirement, then just keep your mouth shut; the suffering you endured is useless. If you are always talking about how much you have suffered, you are flaunting and you are revealing corruption; you are testifying to Satan, testifying to corrupt dispositions, and testifying to Satan’s thoughts and views—you are misleading people and causing disturbances. If you say you have suffered a great deal and paid a great price, that you have been judged, chastised, pruned, and disciplined by God’s words, and that you have experienced much pain and refinement, then you should take your experiences from your period of suffering—how you submitted, how you were able to treat God’s words with correct thoughts, views, and attitudes, how you accepted the judgment and chastisement of God’s words, and how you sought the truth to emerge from the pain and refinement—and fellowship about them and share them with everyone. Many people are hungering and thirsting for righteousness, waiting to hear these things. Most people know without being taught how to suffer, how to pay a price, how to show off and testify to themselves after suffering and paying a price, and so on. They all know how to show off and flaunt their merits. What are the only things they do not understand? They do not understand what way of acting is practicing the truth and doing things according to the truth principles, and what way of acting is distorted; what way of acting satisfies God’s intentions, and what way violates them; what incorrect thoughts and views people have within them; how to know and dissect themselves when they encounter things and reveal corruption; or what way of acting means they have turned around, and what way of acting means they have changed and grown. These are the things that most people lack. According to human nature, what the life within people naturally reveals and lives out is self-exaltation, testifying to oneself, and flaunting to make others hold oneself in high regard; this is what people are best at and most adept at. There is no need for you to fellowship or share the things people are most adept at; share some of your experiences, knowledge, and appreciation regarding God’s words. These are the things people need. Fellowship something that people need, topics that are helpful for people’s practice, people’s experiences, and people’s attainment of salvation, and which help them resolve their conflicts with God. This is valuable. You say you have suffered a great deal, that you have expended lots of energy and much of your heart’s blood in your suffering, and that you also have submission, so what have you gained? Say it out loud so everyone can hear. Sharing with everyone your knowledge and appreciation regarding the truth—which people need—is most welcome. It is what people need. Doing so is a true good deed, and it is your responsibility and obligation. If, for the sake of showing off, you testify about what kinds of suffering you’ve endured, and flaunt the capital you believe your suffering has afforded you in order to get people to regard you highly and worship you, this is a departure from God’s intentions. Doing this is not your responsibility or obligation; rather, it is a manifestation of having lost your conscience and reason. If you really cannot hold back and want to flaunt, you can talk about it a bit with a few individuals to satisfy your vanity, but you should know when to stop. Be absolutely sure not to flagrantly broadcast it in public settings; this is called being ostentatious, and it is called making a fool of oneself. What does it mean to be ostentatious and make a fool of oneself? It is equivalent to stripping naked in public for people to look at—that is how disgusting it is. What kind of person does such a thing? It is something done by mentally ill people, by people who have no sense of shame and no rationality. If you have reason, you absolutely mustn’t do this kind of thing. Suffering is what you ought to endure, but what have you gained after suffering? Do not hold this back; you should share it without reservation with all the brothers and sisters who follow God and pursue the truth. If you share it, God will bless you, and He will bestow more upon you. If you do not talk about topics concerning life experiences and testifying to God, but instead always talk about how you suffered and paid a price and how much capital you have, always presenting a polished version of yourself to others, elevating your image and raising your profile, speaking and acting for the sake of your own fame, gain, and status, and shamelessly flaunting everywhere, then not only will God not bless you, but He will even take away what you originally had. This is because your actions are not accepted or recognized by God, but are condemned by Him. That’s why I’m telling you, you absolutely mustn’t choose this path. No matter how much you have suffered, and regardless of whether it’s what you ought to have endured or not, or whether you suffered willingly or passively out of helplessness, you absolutely mustn’t treat your suffering as capital to flaunt. And never fellowship about how much you have suffered as if it were the truth in order to get people to hold you in high regard, or to get them to emulate your resolve to suffer, your way of suffering, or your attitude toward suffering. Never do this; this would be following your own path. God never looks at how much one suffers. He only looks at how much suffering you go through, how many grievances you endure, and how great a price you pay for the sake of the truth, for the sake of upholding justice and safeguarding God’s work, for the sake of doing your duty well, for the sake of submitting to God’s arrangements and the truth, and for the sake of adhering to the truth principles. He looks at what your goals, intentions, and motives for suffering are, rather than how great your suffering is or how much you suffer. If your goal in suffering is to safeguard your own pride and personal interests, then your suffering is not worth a penny. If you suffer to safeguard the interests of God’s house, even if you merely say a single sentence that ends up offending some people but safeguards the interests of God’s house and is beneficial to the church’s work, then this single sentence will be remembered by God. He will view this sentence as precious, and He will bestow more upon you, giving you faith to make you strong, so that when you encounter things, you will not fear evil people or hostile forces. He will give you clarity of mind, and enable you to have knowledge, insight, light, and enlightenment regarding the truth. As you can see, God’s blessing is so great!

What we fellowshipped just now are the correct thoughts and views regarding suffering. No matter how you used to act or how you used to view suffering, when you understand the truths concerning suffering, you should turn yourself around, accept the correct thoughts and views, and set your intentions and goals straight, using the correct thoughts and views to guide the principles, ways, and direction of your actions. In this way, you will be able to gain the truth. If one’s mentality is not right and they do not accept the truth at all, only speaking about the words and doctrines they understand to flaunt and show off so that people hold them in high regard, and they act however they please when doing things, not changing at all despite believing in God for years, then this is someone who does not love the truth and does not accept the truth. People who accept the truth embrace the correct thoughts and views and take them to heart after hearing them. When they encounter things, they use the truth as the criterion to regulate their behavior, and to correct their wrong intentions and fallacious thoughts and views. Then they use the correct thoughts and views as principles and as a path of practice to restrain themselves and direct their behavior. In the end, what they live out and reveal will no longer be corrupt dispositions, but will be in line with the truth principles, which shows that they have experienced true change. Isn’t this a good thing? (Yes.) This is exactly how people should pursue the truth. Once you understand the truth, God’s words will naturally hold power in your heart; that is, God’s words will become the life within you, and you will be able to live out God’s words. When God’s words take charge within you, and it’s no longer the case that your corrupt dispositions are running the show, then you have the truth as your life, and you are someone beloved by God. Are those whom God loves happy? (Yes.) Their happiness is entirely rightful; they may suffer, but it is still an honor. What they experience is suffering, but what they gain is something sweet. Although this happiness may currently be out of reach for you—or perhaps even very remote—if you diligently pursue in this direction, sooner or later there will come a day where you reap this joy and feel this happiness, and this joy and happiness will no longer be so remote for you. Just strive toward and pursue this goal. Sooner or later there will come a day where the truth becomes your life, and where you are no longer controlled or bound by corrupt dispositions, and then you will think, “Enduring this suffering is worth it! When I used to suffer, it was distressing and painful, and I thought that suffering was something difficult. I’d suffer a little and then think I had capital. Now I feel that suffering is not capital at all, nor is it worth anything—I have corrupt dispositions, so I ought to suffer. It’s good to suffer a little; the flesh ought to suffer. Fortunately, this suffering has been with me; only in this way have I been able to gain the truth, break free from the bondage and control of corrupt dispositions, and live in joy and happiness. After suffering comes sweetness.” You see, those who have tasted it know; those who have gained it know. When that day comes, things will feel quite different, won’t they? (Yes.)

Alright, let’s end our fellowship here for today. Goodbye!

November 16, 2024