Words on Other Topics (Excerpt 82)

(Answering questions from brothers and sisters)

(I’m still being constrained by my affection for my family while performing my duty. I often miss them, and it affects the performance of my duty. My state has improved a bit lately, but I still sometimes worry about the great red dragon arresting my family members in order to threaten me, and I’m afraid that I won’t be able to stand firm then.) These are groundless fears. When you think about these things, you need to seek the truth for a resolution. You need to understand that whatever circumstances you face, God has orchestrated and arranged it. You must learn to submit to God and be able to seek the truth and stand firm when faced with situations. This is a lesson that people have to learn. You should contemplate often: How are you experiencing God’s watering and shepherding during this period of time? What is your actual stature? How should you fulfill the duty of a created being? You have to figure these things out! If you can think about the great red dragon threatening you, then why don’t you think about how to enter into the truth? Why don’t you contemplate on the truth? (When these thoughts occur to me, I do pray to God and make a commitment that if one day I really come to face these circumstances, I’ll stay true to God unto death. But I do fear I won’t be able to make it with my small stature.) Then you pray, “God, I fear that I won’t be able to make it with my small stature. I’m scared to death. Please do not do that. You can do it when I have the stature.” Is this a good way to pray? (No.) You should pray like this: “God, I’m small in stature and small in faith now, I’m afraid of having to face something; in fact, I don’t really believe that all matters and all things are in Your hands. I haven’t placed myself in Your hands; what rebellion this is! I’m willing to submit to Your arrangements and orchestrations. Whatever You do, my heart is willing to bear witness for You. I’m willing to stand firm in my witness without disgracing You. Please, do as You will.” You need to place your aspirations and what you want to say before God—this is how you produce true faith. If you’re hesitant even to pray like this, how small your faith must be! You need to pray like this often. Even if you do pray like this, God will not necessarily respond. God doesn’t burden people with more than they can bear, but if you make your attitude and your resolve clear, God will be pleased. When God is pleased, your heart will no longer be disturbed and constrained by this matter. “Things like husband, children, family, property—these are all in God’s hands. They mean nothing. The whole universe is in God’s hands; isn’t my family in His hands, too? What’s the use of me worrying about them? I have no say in it, I’m not capable, and I can’t shield them. Their fate and everything about them are in God’s hands!” You have to have the faith to come before God and pray, resolving firmly and making up your mind to submit to God’s arrangements. Then the state within you will change. You won’t have any more worries, and you won’t feel worried anymore. You won’t be exceedingly cautious and brimming with apprehension in everything you do. While everyone else charges forward, you hang back, always wanting to get away—isn’t this what a coward does? When God’s people perform their duty in the kingdom and created beings perform their duty before the Creator, they should move forward calmly with a God-fearing heart. They shouldn’t be fumbling about, shrinking back, or walking on eggshells. If you know that this state is wrong and worry about it constantly instead of seeking the truth to resolve it, then you’re being constrained and bound by it, and you won’t be able to fulfill your duty. You want to fulfill your duty as a created being with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength, but can you achieve this? You can’t reach the point of giving all your heart because your heart isn’t on your duty—you’ve at best committed only one-tenth of your heart. Without all your heart, how could you give all your mind and your strength? Your heart isn’t on your duty, and all you have is a bit of willingness to perform it. Can you really fulfill your duty with all your heart and mind? You don’t have the resolve to practice the truth, so you’re bound to be constrained by family and your affection for them. They will bind you hand and foot; they will control your thinking and your heart, and you will fall short of the truth and God’s requirements—you will be willing, but lack the strength. So, you must pray before God, understanding God’s intentions on the one hand while also knowing where you should stand as a created being; you must take the resolve and the attitude that you ought to have and place them before God. This is the attitude you must have. Why don’t other people have these worries? Do you think that other people don’t have family or difficulties like these? In fact, everyone has certain fleshly and familial entanglements, but some people are able to resolve them by praying to God and seeking the truth. After a period of seeking, they see through these affections of the flesh and let them go from their heart; then, these things are no longer difficulties for them, and they cannot be controlled or constrained by them. They don’t affect their performance of their duties, and so they become liberated. There is a line of God’s words in the Bible that says, “Whoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33). What is this forsaking all that one has? What does “all” mean? Things like status, fame and gain, family, friends, and property—all of these are included in the word “all.” So what things take up an important place in your heart? For some it’s children, for some it’s parents, for some it’s wealth, and for others it’s status, fame and gain. If you treasure these things, then they’ll control you. If you don’t treasure them and you completely let them go, then they can’t control you. It just depends on what your attitude toward them is and on how you handle these things.

You have to understand that no matter what time or what stage God is doing His work, He always needs a portion of people to work with Him. That these people cooperate with God’s work or cooperate in spreading the gospel is predestined by Him. So does God have a commission for each person He’s predestined? Everyone has a mission and a responsibility; everyone has a commission. When God gives you a commission, this becomes your responsibility. You need to take up this responsibility; it is your duty. What is duty? It’s the mission that God has given you. What is a mission? (God’s commission is man’s mission. One’s life should be lived for God’s commission. This commission is the only thing in their heart, and they shouldn’t live for anything else.) God’s commission is man’s mission; this is the correct understanding. People who believe in God have been put on earth to complete God’s commission. If all you pursue in this life is to climb the social ladder, amass wealth, live a good life, enjoy being close to family, and revel in fame, gain, and status—if you gain social status, your family becomes prominent, and everyone in your family is safe and sound—but you ignore the mission God has given you, is there any value to this life you’re living? How will you answer to God after you die? You won’t be able to, and this is the greatest rebellion; it is the greatest sin! Which of you is performing your duty in God’s house right now by accident? Whatever background you came from to perform your duty, none of it was by chance. This duty can’t be performed by just finding a few believers at random; this was something predestined by God before the ages. What does it mean for something to be predestined? What specifically? It means that in His entire management plan, God long ago planned how many times you would be on earth, which lineage and which family you would be born into during the last days, what the circumstances of this family would be, whether you would be male or female, what your strengths would be, what level of education you would have, how articulate you would be, what your caliber would be, and what you would look like. He planned the age that you would come to God’s house and begin performing your duty and what duty you would perform at what time. God predestined each step for you early on. When you weren’t yet born and when you came to earth in your last several lives, God had already arranged for you what duty you would be performing in this final stage of work. This is certainly no joke! The fact that you’re able to hear a sermon here was preordained by God. This is not to be taken lightly! Additionally, your height, your appearance, what your eyes look like, your figure, the state of your health, what your life experiences are and which duties you’re capable of taking on at a certain age, and what sort of caliber and ability you possess—these were preordained for you by God long ago, and are certainly not being arranged now. God has long since preordained them for you, which is to say, if He intends to use you, He will have already prepared you before giving you this commission and this mission. So is it acceptable for you to run from it? Is it acceptable for you to be halfhearted about it? Both are unacceptable; that would be letting God down! It’s the worst kind of rebellion for people to forsake their duty. It is a heinous deed. God labored thoughtfully and earnestly, preordaining since time immemorial for you to make it to today and be given this mission. Isn’t this mission your responsibility then? Isn’t it what gives value to living this life of yours? If you don’t complete the mission that God gives to you, you lose the value and meaning of living; it’s as if you’ve lived in vain. God arranged the right conditions, environment, and background for you. He bestowed on you this caliber and ability, prepared you to live to this age, and prepared you to have all the qualifications you would need to perform this duty of yours, He has arranged all of this for you, and yet you’re not diligently performing this duty. You can’t withstand temptation and you choose to escape, always looking to live a good life and pursue worldly things. You take the gift and ability that God has given you and serve Satan with it, living for Satan. How does this make God feel? With His hopes for you let down like this, would He not loathe you? Would He not hate you? He would unleash great wrath upon you. And would this matter be considered settled then? Could it be as simple as you imagine? Do you think that if you don’t complete your mission in this life, it all ends with your death? It doesn’t end there; your soul will then be in peril. You didn’t perform your duty, you didn’t accept God’s commission, and you fled God’s presence. Things have become dire. Where can you run to? Can you escape from God’s hands? How does God classify this kind of person? (These are people who have betrayed Him.) How does God define people who have betrayed Him? How does God classify people who have run from His seat of judgment? These are people who will suffer perdition and be destroyed. There will never be another life or another rebirth for you, and God will not possibly grant you any other commission. There is no longer any mission for you, and you have no chance to receive salvation. This is serious trouble! God will say: “This person has escaped before My eyes once, escaping from My seat of judgment and My presence. They did not carry out their mission or complete their commission. Their life ends here. It is over; it has come to a close.” What a tragedy this is! For you to be able to perform your duty in God’s house today, whether it’s big or small, whether it’s physical or mental, and whether it’s handling external issues or internal work, no one’s performing of their duty is happening by accident. How could this be your choice? This is all led by God. It’s only because of God’s commissioning you that you’re moved like this, you have this sense of mission and responsibility, and you can perform this duty. There are so many among nonbelievers with good looks, knowledge, or talent, but does God favor them? No, He doesn’t. God did not select them, and He favors only the lot of you. He has all of you undertake every kind of role, perform all kinds of duties, and take up different kinds of responsibilities in His management work. When God’s management plan finally comes to an end and is achieved, what a glory and a privilege this will be! So then, when people suffer a little hardship while they perform their duty today; when they have to give some things up, expend themselves a little, and pay a certain price; when they lose their status and their fame and gain in the world; and when these things are all gone, it seems like it’s all been taken from them by God, but they’ve gained something more precious and more valuable. What have people gained from God? They’ve gained the truth and life by performing their duty. Only when you’ve fulfilled your duty, you’ve completed God’s commission, you live your whole life for your mission and the commission God’s given you, you have a beautiful testimony, and you live a life that has value—only then are you a real person! And why do I say you’re a real person? Because God has selected you and had you perform your duty as a created being within His management. This is the greatest value and the greatest meaning in your life.

God doesn’t ask much of people. When God gives you a commission and a responsibility, if you say that you have little faith and that this is the most effort you can put in, that this is the most you can offer, and that these are the things you can take on, then God will not force you. It’s not like if He asks you for a hundred percent and you give ninety-five, He’s going to be dissatisfied, He won’t let you off, and He’ll constantly move and urge you so you can reach the hundred percent that He asks. God will not do that. Instead, He will have you progressively strive upward step by step according to your stature, your energy, and what you’re capable of. God is fair and reasonable in His work. He doesn’t force people; He lets you feel comfortable and at ease, He lets you feel that in everything He does for you He can understand you and be considerate of you. People must be aware of God’s painstaking effort as well as His mercy, lovingkindness, and tolerance for humanity. What should people do then, and how should they cooperate? How they should cooperate is like this: “I must strive toward satisfying God’s intentions. God wants a hundred percent of me; I won’t only give thirty if I’m capable of giving sixty. I’ll give all my strength. I won’t be slippery, I won’t cut corners, and I won’t have a mindset of relying on luck.” That will do it. God looks at man’s heart. He doesn’t have uniform requirements for all people; it isn’t that you have to abandon your children and family or give up your job because someone else has. God doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all approach, He requires of you according to your stature and what you can achieve. So then, there’s no need for you to feel any concern or any pressure. Just pray before God based on what you are capable of achieving. Whatever hardships there are or constraints you’re under, don’t shrink from them. Don’t let them affect you. That’s the correct way. Once you’re affected by them, you’ll keep thinking, “I haven’t done very well. God’s unhappy with me, isn’t He? I have to take great care. I can’t push too hard; I need to leave some breathing room.” This is wrong; it’s a misunderstanding of God. Each gradual step of this kind of experience makes people feel more and more that their faith is too small to the point where they can even doubt God based on their notions and imaginings, just like the saying “assessing the noble by the standards of the ignoble.” They believe in God but are afraid to depend on Him; they believe in God’s sovereignty but are afraid to hand everything over to Him. People often say, “God holds sovereignty over all things” and “all things are in God’s hands,” but when they encounter some situation, they think, “Can God really hold sovereignty over this? Can He really be relied on? I’d better rely on other people, and if that doesn’t work I’ll come up with something on my own.” Then they realize how immature, ridiculous, and small in stature they are. They turn back again, wanting to depend on God, but find there is still no path. Deep down, however, they know that God is faithful and He can be relied on; it’s just that they have such little faith and are always so skeptical. How do you solve this problem? You have to rely on your experience and on pursuing and understanding the truth—only then can you produce true faith. The more you experience and the more you depend on God, the more you’ll feel that He can be relied on. As you experience more matters, seeing how God protects you time and time again, helping you overcome difficulties and avoid danger, you will unconsciously develop genuine faith and reliance on God. You’ll feel that God is trustworthy and reliable. You need to first have this faith in your heart.

Each person has their own destiny, and this is all predestined by God; no one can take charge of someone else’s fate. You need to stop stressing over your family and learn to let go and relinquish everything. How do you do this? One way is to pray to God. You must also contemplate how your relatives who do not believe in God pursue worldly things, wealth, and material comforts. They belong to Satan, and they’re a different type of person than you. You’ll lead a life of suffering if you don’t perform your duty and you live among them. Since you view matters differently from them, you won’t get along well but will instead be tormented. There will be only pain and no happiness. Can affection bring you peace and joy? Catering to the flesh will bring you nothing but suffering, emptiness, and lifelong regret. This is something you need to grasp thoroughly. So, missing your family is unilateral; it’s being needlessly sentimental! You’re walking a different path than they are. Your outlook on life, worldview, path in life, and goals of pursuit are all different. You aren’t with your family now, but because you’re related by blood, you always feel that you’re close to them and that you’re one family. However, when you actually are living with them, just a few days of dealing with them will leave you completely annoyed. They’re full of lies; what they say is all false, sweet talk, and deceptive. Their way of behaving and dealing with the world is all based on satanic philosophy and life maxims. Their thoughts and views are all wrong and absurd, and they’re simply unbearable to hear. Then you’ll think to yourself, “I used to have them on my mind all the time, and I was constantly afraid that they weren’t living well. But living with these people now is truly insufferable!” You’ll be repulsed by them. You haven’t yet figured out what kind of people they are, so you still think that family ties are more important and more real than anything else. You’re still constrained by affection. Try to let those things of affection go however you can. If you can’t, then put your duty first. God’s commission and your mission are most important. Fulfilling your duty first tops everything else, and don’t bother for now with those things of your relatives in the flesh. When your commission and your duty are fulfilled, the truth becomes clearer and clearer to you, your relationship with God becomes more and more normal, your heart of submission to God grows ever greater, and your God-fearing heart grows ever greater and more evident, then the state in you will change. Once your state changes, your worldly views and affections will fade, you won’t seek those things anymore, and your heart will just want to seek how to love God, how to satisfy Him, how to live in a manner that pleases Him, and how to live with the truth. Once your heart strives toward this, things to do with affections of the flesh will slowly fade, and they won’t be able to bind or control you anymore.

Some people say: “I’m not constrained by my affection for my family when I perform my duties, but whenever I have an idle moment, I start to miss them.” Well, what are the consequences of missing your family? If it can lead to you becoming negative and unwilling to perform your duties, then you have to seek the truth for a resolution. Once you’ve solved the problem, you won’t be constantly missing your family the next time you have an idle moment, and it won’t lead to any consequences. So, whatever problems arise, you should always seek the truth to resolve them; this is what’s most important. Missing your family isn’t what’s concerning; the key is that you need to think about what the consequences of constantly being homesick will be, and how this matter should be resolved. You should contemplate: “How did this state of mine come about? Why is it that I’m always missing my family? What parts of the truth are not clear to me? Which truths should I enter into?” Practice like this, and you’ll have entry into the truth quickly. You must always be contemplating the truth in your mind; the more you do, the clearer your understanding of the truth will be, and the more you will have paths of practice in your mind. This will lead to truly understanding the truth, rather than just having a smattering of knowledge about it. At this point, you will want to find people to fellowship with. What is the purpose of fellowship? It’s to gain confirmation, to understand the truth more accurately without any deviations. In this way, you won’t have any difficulties, and your mind will attain liberation and freedom, no longer under any constraints. You won’t constantly miss your family anymore, and you’ll be able to break free from worldly entanglements. Your state will become increasingly normal. You all have to learn to contemplate the truth. How do you do that? For instance, let’s say you’ve done something today that you don’t feel is quite right and it seems to go against principles, but you don’t know where the problem lies. This is when you should pray to God and seek the truth, thinking, “What truth does this issue relate to? Which principle does it relate to?” You should find someone to fellowship on the truth, look back, and reflect. When you finally discover the source of the problem and resolve it through seeking the truth, you’ll have more faith in God, and you’ll feel that you’ve made more progress in regard to the truth. You’ll be able to see through some matters and understand some spiritual words; or, you’ll be able to understand what some commonly repeated doctrine or slogan actually signifies and means. This is having some understanding of the truth and knowing how to practice it. Then you’ll go ahead and fellowship with others, fellowshipping on this slogan until it’s clearly understood, turning it into a path of practice. Isn’t this a good thing? This is another way forward. Sometimes you’ll see someone with a certain state, and you may contemplate: “Why does this person have this kind of state? How did this state of theirs come about? Why is it that I don’t have this kind of state? That thing they said represents a certain state and mentality. How did this mentality of theirs develop? Where did the problem arise? What aspect of the truth does this relate to? Shouldn’t I seek the truth too?” Through fellowship and seeking, you find the problem and realize that state of theirs is something you have, too. You’ve matched their situation up to yours, haven’t you? Wasn’t this effort worth it? (Yes.) After discovering the problem, you find someone to fellowship with. When you eventually find the answer and figure out what the problem is, the problem gets resolved. It’s easy to resolve a problem when you are able to discover it. If you can’t discover it, the problem can never be resolved. Sometimes, when your mind has quieted down, this can be the best time to contemplate the truth and God’s words. Whatever you do, do not waste this opportunity on nurturing emotional connections, constantly thinking about reuniting with your family; that’s troublesome. If you’re constantly concerned about your family and seize any chance you have to connect emotionally with them, your mind will always be filled with these emotional entanglements; you’ll be unable to sever these attachments and be unable to let go. You should pray more, read more of God’s words, and fellowship often with your brothers and sisters. When you understand the truth, you at least won’t be constrained by family, the flesh, or affection. These things will be easy to let go of; this is the way forward. In fact, many people’s experiences are like this. Resolving emotional issues always requires a period of experience; once you understand the truth, the issues become easy to resolve.

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