No matter what sort of duty you perform or profession you study, you should become more proficient the more you study, and strive for perfection; your performance of your duty will then get better and better. Some people aren’t conscientious in the performance of any duty, and do not seek the truth to resolve any difficulties they encounter. They always want others to guide and assist them, going so far as to ask others to teach them hand in hand and do things for them, without putting in effort of their own. They constantly rely on others and cannot do without their help. They’re junk for doing so, aren’t they? No matter what duty you are performing, you need to put your heart into studying things. If you lack professional knowledge, then study professional knowledge. If you do not understand the truth, then seek the truth. If you understand the truth and acquire professional knowledge, you will be able to put them to use while performing your duty and get results. This is a person of true talent and real knowledge. If you do not study any professional knowledge at all during your duty, do not pursue the truth, then your laboring will be subpar; so, how can you speak of performing your duty? To perform your duty well, you must study a lot of useful knowledge and equip yourself with many truths. You must never stop learning, never stop seeking, and never stop improving on your weaknesses by learning from others. No matter what other people’s strengths are, or in what way they are stronger than you, you must learn from them. And all the more should you learn from anyone who understands the truth better than you. By performing your duty this way for several years, you will understand the truth and enter its realities, and your performance of your duty will also be up to par. You will have become a person who possesses truth and humanity, a person who possesses the truth reality. This is achieved by pursuing the truth. How could you achieve such results without performing a duty? It is God’s exaltation. If you do not pursue the truth while performing your duties and are satisfied merely with laboring, what will the consequences be? In one regard, you will not perform your duties adequately. In the other, you will lack genuine experiential testimony and will not gain the truth. Without anything to show in either of these regards, could you gain God’s approval? It would be impossible. Therefore, one absolutely cannot gain God’s approval by being satisfied with laboring. To think that you can be rewarded and enter the kingdom of heaven merely by laboring is wishful thinking! What kind of attitude is that? Wanting to obtain blessings by simply laboring is clearly bargaining with God, an attempt to trick God. God does not approve of such laborers. What dispositions govern a person when they are perfunctory, or when they engage in deceit, in the performance of their duties? Arrogance, intransigence, and not loving the truth—are they not governed by these things? (Yes.) Do you have such manifestations? (Yes.) Frequently, occasionally, or only in certain matters? (Frequently.) Your attitude in acknowledging such states is quite sincere, and you have honest hearts, but merely acknowledging them is not enough; it won’t change them. So, what must be done to change them? When, in the performance of your duties, you are perfunctory, reveal an arrogant disposition, or have an irreverent attitude, you must quickly come before God in prayer, self-reflect, and recognize what manner of corrupt disposition you are revealing. Moreover, you must understand how that kind of disposition comes about and how it can be changed. The purpose of understanding this is to bring about change. So, what should one do in order to achieve change? One must come to know, through the exposure and judgment of God’s words, the essence of their corrupt dispositions—how ugly and fiendish it is, no different from that of Satan or devils. Only then can they hate themselves and hate Satan; only then can they rebel against themselves and rebel against Satan. It is in this way that one can put the truth into practice. When one sets their mind to practicing the truth, they must also accept God’s scrutiny and His discipline. There must then be an element of active cooperation on their part. How should they cooperate? When performing a duty, as soon as one has the thought of “that’s good enough,” they must correct it. One must not entertain such thoughts. When an arrogant disposition arises, one must pray to God, acknowledge their corrupt disposition, quickly reflect on themselves, seek out God’s word, and accept His judgment and chastening. In this way, one will be able to have a repentant heart, and their internal state will have changed. What is the purpose of doing this? The purpose is to have you genuinely turn around, and be able to perform with loyalty, and submit to and accept God’s reproach and discipline without reservation. In doing so, your state will be reversed. When you are about to be perfunctory again, and treat your duties with an irreverent attitude again, if you can promptly turn around due to God’s discipline and reproach, will you not then have avoided committing a transgression? Is this a good thing or a bad thing for your growth in life? It is a good thing. When you practice the truth and satisfy God, your heart is at ease, joyful, and free from regrets. That is genuine peace and joy.

It is easy for people to rebel against and resist God when they have corrupt dispositions, but this does not mean that they have no hope of salvation. God has come to do the work of saving people and has expressed many truths; it comes down to whether people can accept these truths. If one can accept the truth, they can attain salvation. If they do not accept the truth and can deny and betray God, they are entirely done for—they can only wait to be destroyed amid disaster. No one can escape this fate. People must confront this fact. Some people say, “I constantly reveal corrupt dispositions, and I can never change. What should I do? Is this just how I am? Does God not like me? Does He detest me?” Is this the right kind of attitude? Is this the right way to think? (No.) When a person has corrupt dispositions, they will naturally reveal them. They cannot curb them, though they’d like to, and so they feel that there is no hope for them. In fact, this is not necessarily the case. It depends on whether the person can accept the truth, on whether they can rely on God and look up to Him. That people frequently reveal a corrupt disposition proves their life is controlled by the corrupt disposition of Satan, and that their essence is the essence of Satan. People should acknowledge and accept this fact. There is a difference between the nature essence of man and the essence of God. What should they do after acknowledging this fact? When people reveal a corrupt disposition; when they indulge in pleasures of the flesh and grow distant from God; or when God works in a way that is at odds with their own ideas, and complaints arise within them, they should make themselves aware at once that this is a problem, and a corrupt disposition; it is rebellion against God, opposition to God; it does not accord with the truth, and is loathed by God. When people realize these things, they should not complain, or become negative and slack off, and much less should they be upset; instead, they should be able to know themselves more deeply. In addition, they should be able to come before God proactively and accept God’s reproach and discipline, and they should immediately turn their state around, such that they are able to practice according to the truth and the words of God, and can act according to the principles. In this way, your relationship with God will grow increasingly normal, as will the state within you. You will be able to identify corrupt dispositions, the essence of corruption, and the various ugly states of Satan with increasing clarity. No longer will you utter such foolish and childish words as “it was Satan interfering with me,” or “it was an idea Satan gave me.” Instead, you will have accurate knowledge of corrupt dispositions, of the human essence that resists God, and of the essence of Satan. You will have a more accurate way of treating these things, and these things will not constrain you. You will not become weak or lose faith in God and in His salvation because you have revealed a bit of your corrupt disposition, or transgressed, or have done your duty perfunctorily, or because you often find yourself in a passive, negative state. You will not live amid such states, but will face your own corrupt disposition correctly, and be capable of a normal spiritual life. When one reveals corrupt dispositions, if they can reflect on themselves, come before God in prayer, seek the truth, and discern and dissect the essence of their corrupt dispositions, such that they are no longer controlled and constrained by their corrupt dispositions, but can put the truth into practice, they will have embarked on the path to salvation. With this kind of practice and experience, one can then cast off their corrupt dispositions and break free from Satan’s influence. Have they not then come to live before God and obtained freedom and liberation? This is the path of practicing and obtaining the truth, as well as the path to salvation. Corrupt dispositions are deeply rooted in humans; the essence of Satan and its nature control people’s thoughts, behavior, and minds. However, all of this pales before the truth, before God’s work, and before God’s salvation; it presents no obstacles. No matter what corrupt dispositions a person may have, nor whatever difficulties they face, nor whatever their constraints are, there is a path that may be taken, a method to resolve them, and corresponding truths to resolve them. In this way, is there not hope for people’s salvation? Yes, there is hope for people’s salvation.