What is going on, when someone is given to making excuses when faced with reproach and pruning? This is a kind of disposition that’s very arrogant, self-righteous, and headstrong. Arrogant and headstrong people find it hard to accept the truth. They can’t accept it when they hear something that doesn’t align with their own perspectives, opinions, and thoughts. They don’t care about whether what others say is right or wrong, or who said it, or the context in which it was said, or whether it relates to their own responsibilities and duties. They don’t care about these things; what’s urgent to them is first to satisfy their own feelings. Isn’t this being headstrong? What are the losses which being headstrong will ultimately bring on people? It is difficult for them to gain the truth. Not accepting the truth is caused by man’s corrupt disposition, and the final outcome is that they can’t easily attain the truth. Anything that is naturally revealed from man’s nature essence is in opposition to the truth and has nothing to do with it; not one such thing aligns with or approaches the truth. Therefore, to achieve salvation, one must accept and practice the truth. If one cannot accept the truth and always wants to act according to their own preferences, that person cannot achieve salvation. If you want to follow God and perform your duty well, you must first avoid being impulsive when things do not go your way. Calm down first and be quiet before God, and in your heart, pray to Him and seek from Him. Do not be headstrong; submit first. Only with such a mindset can you bring better resolutions to problems. If you can persevere in living before God, and whatever befalls you, you are able to pray to Him and seek from Him, and face it with a mentality of submission, then it does not matter how many revelations there are of your corrupt disposition, or what transgressions you have previously committed—they can be resolved so long as you seek the truth. No matter what trials befall you, you will be able to stand firm. As long as you have the right mentality, are able to accept the truth, and submit to God in accordance with His requirements, then you are entirely capable of putting the truth into practice. Though you may be a little rebellious and resistant at times, and sometimes display defensive reasoning and are unable to submit, if you can pray to God and turn your rebellious state around, then you can accept the truth. Having done so, reflect on why such rebelliousness and resistance arose in you. Find the reason, then seek the truth to resolve it, and that aspect of your corrupt disposition can be purified. After several recoveries from such stumbles and falls, until you can put the truth into practice, your corrupt disposition will gradually be cast off. And then, the truth will reign inside you and become your life, and there will be no further obstacles to your practice of the truth. You will become able to truly submit to God, and you will live out the truth reality. During this period, you will have practical experience in and exposure to practicing the truth and submitting to God. When something happens to you later on, you will know how to practice in a way that is submissive to God and what kind of behavior is a rebellion against God. With these things clear in your heart, will you still be unable to fellowship on the truth reality? If you’re asked to share your experiential testimonies, you won’t feel it’s a problem because you will have experienced many things and know the principles of practice. However you talk, it will be real, and whatever you say, it will be practical. And if you’re asked to discuss the words and doctrines, you won’t be willing to—you’ll be averse to it at heart. Won’t you then have entered the truth reality? People who pursue the truth can gain experience of it with no more than a few years’ effort, then enter into the truth reality. For those who do not pursue the truth, it is not easy to enter the truth reality, even if they want to. This is because there’s too much rebelliousness in those who do not love the truth. Whenever they need to practice the truth in some matter, they always make excuses for themselves and have problems of their own, so it will be very hard for them to put the truth into practice. Although they may pray and seek, and be willing to practice the truth, when something happens to them, when they encounter difficulties, their muddledness surfaces, and their rebellious disposition comes out, quite clouding their minds. How severe their rebellious disposition must be! If it’s the lesser part of their heart that is muddled, and the greater part wants to submit to God, practicing the truth will present less of a difficulty for them. Perhaps they can pray for a while, or it may be that someone fellowships on the truth with them; as long as they understand it in that moment, it will be easier to put into practice. If their muddledness is so large that it occupies the greater part of their heart, in which rebelliousness is primary and submission is secondary, it won’t be easy for them to put the truth into practice, because they are too small of stature. And those who don’t love the truth at all are overwhelmingly or entirely rebellious, completely muddled. These people are muddlers who will never be able to put the truth into practice, so no amount of energy spent on them would be of any use. People who love the truth have a strong drive toward the truth; if that is the greater part or the great majority of what drives them, and the truth is clearly fellowshipped to them, they are sure to be able to put it into practice. Loving the truth is not a simple matter; having just a slight willingness does not make someone love the truth. They must reach a point where once they understand God’s word, they can strive and endure hardship and pay the price to put the truth into practice. That’s a person who loves the truth. A person who loves the truth can be persistent in their pursuit, no matter how many corrupt dispositions they reveal or how many transgressions they have committed. No matter what happens to them, they can pray to God, seek the truth, and accept the truth. After two or three years of such experience, their efforts can pay off, and ordinary difficulties won’t impede them. If they do encounter significant difficulties, then even if they fail, it’s normal, because they are too small of stature. As long as they can put the truth into practice under normal circumstances, there is hope. When they come to know God and have a God-fearing heart, even significant challenges are easy for them to resolve; no challenge is an issue for them. As long as people read more of God’s words and fellowship more on the truth, and if they can pray to God, no matter what difficulties befall them, and rely on the work of the Holy Spirit to resolve the issues, it will be easy for them to understand the truth and put it into practice, and their corrupt disposition will begin gradually to be cast off. With each act of practicing the truth, they cast off a bit of their corrupt disposition, and with more practice of the truth comes more casting off their corrupt disposition. This is a natural law. If people see that they are revealing a corrupt disposition and try to resolve it by relying on self-restraint and endurance, will they succeed? It won’t be easy. If they could resolve it that way, then there would be no need for God to do His work of judgment and chastisement. To resolve a corrupt disposition, one must rely on prayer to God and rely on Him, on seeking the truth and knowing oneself in self-reflection, and rely on the Holy Spirit to work. That is what can gradually resolve it. If people do not cooperate, don’t know how to reflect on themselves, cannot accept the truth, do not recognize their corrupt disposition, lack repentance, and do not hate the flesh and Satan, their corrupt disposition will not be cast off on its own. It is here that the work of the Holy Spirit is most marvelous; as long as people thirst for the truth and pursue a change in their disposition, God will enlighten and guide them. Without realizing it, people will simultaneously understand the truth and be able to know themselves, and at this point, they will begin to love the truth and yearn for it. They will be able to hate the nature and the disposition of Satan from their own hearts, making it easier for them to rebel against the flesh, and making it feel much easier for them to practice the truth. At that point, their corrupt disposition will change, bit by bit, and they will no longer have any rebelliousness against God; they will be able to submit completely to Him, without being constrained by any person, event, or thing. This is a complete transformation in their life disposition.