Whether one is performing their duty or learning professional knowledge, one must be diligent, and come to handle things according to the principles. Do not approach these things perfunctorily or merely go through the motions. The purpose of studying professional knowledge is to perform one’s duty well, and one must put effort into this—this is something people should cooperate with. If a person is unwilling to perform their duty well and always finds reasons and excuses not to study professional knowledge, it shows that they are not sincerely expending themselves for God, and that they do not want to perform their duty well to repay His love. Is this not a person who lacks conscience and reason? Is a person with such a character not troublesome? Are they not extremely difficult to manage? Although one is studying a profession, they must also seek the truth and do things in accordance with the truth principles. One must not go beyond this scope, and one cannot be muddleheaded, like an unbeliever. What attitude do unbelievers have toward work? Many of them just drift through their days and waste their time, muddling through each day just for their daily wage, and doing things in a perfunctory way whenever they can. They do not care about efficiency, or acting based on conscience, and they lack a serious and responsible attitude. They do not say, “This has been entrusted to me, so I must take responsibility for it until it is done, I must handle this matter well, and shoulder this responsibility.” They lack this conscience. Moreover, unbelievers have a certain kind of corrupt disposition. When they teach other people a piece of professional knowledge or a skill, they think, “Once a student knows everything the master knows, the master will lose his livelihood. If I teach everything I know to others, then no one will look up to me or admire me anymore and I will have lost all my status as a teacher. This will not do. I can’t teach them everything I know, I must hold something back. I’ll teach them only eighty percent of what I know and keep the rest up my sleeve; this is the only way to show that my skills are superior to those of others.” What sort of disposition is this? It is deceitfulness. When teaching others, assisting them, or sharing with them something you studied, what attitude should you take? (I should spare no effort and hold nothing back.) How does one hold nothing back? If you say, “I don’t hold anything back when it comes to the things that I’ve learned, and I have no problem telling all of you about them. I am of a higher caliber than you anyway, and I can still comprehend more elevated things”—that is still holding back and it is quite calculating. Or if you say, “I’ll teach you all the basic things I’ve learned, it’s no big deal. I still have higher knowledge, and even if you learn all of this, you still won’t be as advanced as me”—that’s still holding something back. If a person is too selfish, they will be without God’s blessing. People should learn to be considerate of God’s will. You must contribute the most important and essential things that you have grasped to God’s house, so that God’s chosen ones can learn them and master them—that is the only way to attain God’s blessing, and He will bestow upon you even more things. As it is said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Devote all of your talents and gifts to God, displaying them in the performance of your duty so that everyone can benefit, and achieve results in their duties. If you contribute your gifts and talents in their entirety, they will be beneficial to all those who do that duty, and to the work of the church. Do not just tell everyone some simple things and then think that you’ve done quite well or that you have not held anything back—this will not do. You only teach a few theories or things that people can understand literally, but the essence and important points are beyond the grasp of a novice. You only give an overview, without elaborating or going into detail, all the while still thinking to yourself, “Well, anyway, I’ve told you, and I haven’t intentionally held anything back. If you don’t understand, it’s because your caliber is too poor, so don’t blame me. We’ll just have to see how God leads you now.” Such deliberation contains deceit, does it not? Is it not selfish and despicable? Why can’t you teach people everything in your heart and everything you understand? Why do you withhold knowledge instead? This is a problem with your intentions and your disposition. When most people are first introduced to some specific aspect of professional knowledge, they can only comprehend its literal meaning; it takes a period of practice before the main points and essence can be grasped. If you have already mastered these finer points, you should tell them to others directly; do not make them take such a roundabout path and spend so much time groping around. This is your responsibility; it is what you should do. You will only not be withholding anything, and not be selfish, if you tell them what you believe to be the main points and essence. When you teach skills to others, communicate with them about your profession, or fellowship about life entry, if you cannot resolve the selfish and despicable aspects of your corrupt dispositions, you won’t be able to perform your duties well, in which case, you are not someone who possesses humanity, or conscience and reason, or who practices the truth. You must seek the truth to resolve your corrupt dispositions, and reach the point where you are devoid of selfish motives, and only consider God’s will. In this way, you will have the truth reality. It is too tiring if people do not pursue the truth and live by satanic dispositions like the unbelievers. Competition is rife among unbelievers. Mastering the essence of a skill or a profession is no simple matter, and once someone else finds out about it, and masters it themselves, your livelihood will be at risk. In order to protect that livelihood, people are driven to act in this way—they must be cautious at all times. What they’ve mastered is their most valuable currency, it’s their livelihood, their capital, their lifeblood, and they mustn’t let anyone else in on it. But you believe in God—if you think this way and act this way in God’s house, there is nothing to distinguish you from an unbeliever. If you do not accept the truth at all, and continue to live according to satanic philosophies, then you are not someone who truly believes in God. If you always have selfish motives and are petty-minded while performing your duty, you will not receive God’s blessing.

After coming to believe in God, you have eaten and drunk the words of God, and accepted the judgment and chastisement of God’s words, so have you reflected on your corrupt dispositions and come to know them? Have the principles by which you speak and act, your outlook on things, and the principles and goals of your conduct changed? If you are still no different than an unbeliever, then God will not recognize your belief in Him. He will say that you are still an unbeliever, and that you are still walking the path of an unbeliever. Therefore, whether it is in your conduct or the performance of your duty, you must practice based on God’s words, and according to the truth principles, use the truth to resolve problems, resolve the corrupt dispositions that you reveal, and resolve your erroneous thoughts, outlooks, and practices. In one respect, you must discover problems through self-reflection and self-examination. In another respect, you must also seek the truth to resolve problems, and when you discover corrupt dispositions, you must promptly resolve them, rebel against the flesh, and abandon your own will. Once you have resolved your corrupt dispositions, you will no longer act based upon them, and you will be able to let go of your own intentions and interests, and practice in accordance with the truth principles. This is the truth reality that a genuine follower of God must possess. If you can self-reflect, know yourself, and seek the truth to resolve problems in this way, then you are someone who pursues the truth. Belief in God requires such cooperation, and being able to practice in this way is most blessed by God. Why do I say this? Because you are acting for the sake of the church’s work, for the interests of God’s house, and for the benefit of the brothers and sisters, and at the same time, you are practicing the truth. This is exactly what God approves of; these are good deeds, and by practicing the truth in this way, you are bearing witness for God. However, if you do not do this, and are no different to an unbeliever, acting according to the unbelievers’ principles for handling things, and their methods of conduct, is this bearing witness? (No.) What consequences does this bring? (It humiliates God.) This humiliates God! Why do you say that this humiliates God? (Because God has chosen us, expressed so many truths, personally guided us, provided for us, and watered us, yet we do not accept or practice the truth, and we still live based on satanic things, and do not bear witness before Satan. This humiliates God.) (If a believer in God has heard Him fellowship about so many truths and paths of practice, yet when they act, they still live according to unbelievers’ philosophies for worldly dealings, and are particularly deceitful and self-serving, they are even worse and more evil than unbelievers.) You may all understand a bit about this matter. People eat and drink the words of God, enjoy all that God provides, yet they still follow Satan. No matter what things or difficult environments befall them, they are still not able to listen to God’s words or submit to God, they do not seek the truth, and they do not stand firm in their testimony. Is this not betraying God? This is indeed betraying God. When God needs you, you do not listen to His call or to His words, but instead follow the secular trends, heeding Satan, following Satan, and practicing according to Satan’s logic, and its principles and methods for living. This is betraying God. Is betraying God not blaspheming and humiliating God? Consider Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden—God said, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Whose words are these? (God’s words.) Are these ordinary words? (No.) What are they? They are the truth, they are what people should abide by, and the way that people should practice. God told humans how to treat the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The principle of practice was not to eat of it, and He then told humans the consequence—they would surely die on the day they ate of it. Humans were told the principle of practice and what was at stake. After hearing this, did they understand it or not? (They understood it.) They did, in fact, understand God’s words, but later they heard the serpent say, “God said that you will surely die on the day that you eat of that tree, but you shall not surely die. You can try it,” and after Satan spoke, they heeded its words, and they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was betraying God. They did not choose to heed God’s words and practice according to them. They did not do as God commanded, but instead believed and accepted Satan’s words, and acted according to them. What was the result of this? The nature of their behavior and approach was betraying and humiliating God, and the result was that they were corrupted by Satan and degenerated. People now are the same as Adam and Eve were then. They hear God’s words but do not practice them, even understanding the truth but not practicing it. The nature of this is the same as Adam and Eve not heeding God’s words or His commandments—it is betraying and humiliating God. When people betray and humiliate God, the result of this is that they continue to be corrupted and controlled by Satan, and to be controlled by their satanic dispositions. Therefore, they can never break free from Satan’s influence, or escape Satan’s enticement, temptations, attacks, manipulations, and devouring. If you can never break free from these things, your life will be especially painful and troublesome, and there will be no peace and joy in it. You will feel that everything is hollow, and you may even want to seek death to end it all. This is the pitiful condition of those who live under Satan’s power.