Why does God require that people know Him? Why does He require people to know themselves? What is the purpose of knowing oneself? What is the desired result? And what is the purpose of knowing God? What effect is to be achieved in people by having them know God? Are these questions you’ve considered? God uses various means to get people to know themselves. He has prepared all manner of environments for people to reveal their corruption, and to get them to know themselves progressively through experience. Whether it’s the exposure of God’s words or His judgment and chastisement, do you understand what the ultimate purpose of God doing this work is? God’s ultimate purpose in doing His work this way is to allow every person who experiences His work to know what man is. And what does this entail, this “knowing what man is”? It entails letting man know his identity and his status, his duty and his responsibility. It means letting you know what it means to be human, letting you understand who you are. This is God’s ultimate goal in getting people to know themselves. So why does God have people know Him? This is the special grace He bestows upon mankind, because by knowing God, man can understand many truths and see through many mysteries. People gain so much by knowing God. When people know God, they learn how to live in the most meaningful way, so getting people to pursue knowledge of God is God’s greatest love, His greatest blessing. And God avails of many ways to get people to know Him, the most primary one being the judgment and chastisement, guidance, and provision of His words. Of course, He also makes people know His disposition through judgment and chastisement—this is a shortcut for knowing God. What is the ultimate result achieved by people seeing and knowing the disposition of God? It is making people know who God is, what His essence is, what His identity and status are, what His possessions and being are, and what His disposition is. It is making every person see clearly that they are created beings, that only God is the Creator, and how created beings ought to submit to the Creator. By knowing all this, man’s path in life becomes completely elucidated. When people truly know themselves, can they not then gradually let go of their extravagant desires and various unjust intentions? (Yes.) So can they then reach the point where they are able to let go completely? This depends on the individual. A person can only truly let go of their extravagant desires and various demands of God when, through His work, they attain a knowledge of God and acquire an accurate knowledge and definition of His essence, identity, and status. Only this type of person can, like Peter, express their heartfelt wish and desire to love God from the bottom of their heart, and put love of God into practice. Thus, knowing God and knowing oneself—neither can be dispensed with. You say you want to love God, but can you know how to love Him if you do not understand Him? What parts of Him are lovable? What are His most lovable aspects? If you do not know this, you cannot love Him. You will be incapable of loving Him, even if you want to, and you may even find notions about Him and rebelliousness involuntarily arising in you, leading to negativity. Will this kind of person receive God’s approval? They will not. When someone does not know God and nevertheless says they love Him, this so-called “love” is all empty theory evoked by human logic and reasoning. It does not arise from a knowledge of God, and it doesn’t hold up at all with God. Do you now see what I’m saying about these two matters? (Yes.) Then why weren’t you able to say it just now? This proves that your knowledge of yourself in practical experience is muddled, and that you don’t have true knowledge of God. Do you know what the issue here is? (We have not found the correct path of practice. We cannot enter concurrently from the two aspects of knowing God and knowing ourselves. We focus only on entering from a single aspect, thus limiting the growth of our life.) Since this is the state you are now in, how is your stature? Is it not immature? Are you not very far from God’s requirement and standard in terms of knowing yourself? At the very least, you still cannot let go of your personal desires and intentions. Can your submission to God accord with the truth? Are you able to know whether God has any status in your heart? There are many people who even now still question whether God’s incarnation is human or God; they have a foot in both camps, one moment believing in the God on earth, the next believing in a vague God up in the sky. And there are some who even question God’s essence, who say, “How can the incarnated God and the God in the sky be the same God? If He really is God, why doesn’t He display miracles and signs?” This shows that you have a severe lack of spiritual understanding. Such is your stature that despite God saying so much you still don’t understand it. Now you only acknowledge that God has become flesh, you only acknowledge the truth expressed by God incarnate; but you don’t have much of any knowledge when it comes to God’s essence, identity, and status. You could say that in your hearts this knowledge amounts to zero, does it not? (It does.) And this can be proven in fact: Before I fellowshipped on such aspects of the truth as God’s essence or God’s will, you thought your knowledge of God was profound, and you thought your belief in God was steadfast and unwavering. But when I fellowshipped with you about such truths as God Himself, God’s disposition, and God’s essence, these words and contents provoked a strong reaction in your hearts. This reaction was intense, and it made it difficult for you to accept, creating a great conflict with the God you had imagined in your hearts. Is this not a fact? (It is.) So, when I say some things that you haven’t heard before, you find it impossible to accept at first, as if you can’t understand what it is I’m saying. This proves that your stature is too small, so much that you cannot even understand God’s words or measure up to them. You will need several more years of experience before you can understand.