Words on Seeking and Practicing the Truth (Excerpt 12)
It is very important to seek the truth when encountering matters. If you seek the truth, you will not only be able to solve the problem, but you will also be able to practice and gain the truth. If you do not seek the truth, but insist on your own reasoning and always act according to your own opinion, then not only will you fail to solve the problem of your own corruption, but you will also knowingly sin, and this is the path to resisting God. For example, suppose you are pruned and dealt with in the performance of your duties, and you do not seek the truth but stubbornly emphasize your own reason. You might think, “I’ve done my work, and I haven’t done anything obviously bad, but not only am I dealt with for just a few mistakes, I’m also exposed and disrespected, which shows a dislike of me. Where is God’s love? Why can’t I see it? It’s said that God loves people, so how is it that God loves others but doesn’t love me?” All the grievances come pouring out. Can people in such a state gain the truth? They cannot. When problems arise in your relationship with God, and instead of resolving them, turning yourself around, and setting aside your mistaken views and bigoted ideas, you stubbornly resist God, then this can only result in God abandoning you, and in you also turning your back on Him. You will be full of grievances against God, doubting and denying His sovereignty and unwilling to submit to His arrangements. Worse still, you will deny that God is truth and righteousness, and this is the most serious form of resisting God. But if you seek the truth in all things, you will have understood God’s will, and you will have gained a path you can tread. In so doing, you will not only confirm that the God in whom you believe is the truth, the way, the life, and love; you will also confirm that everything God does is right, that His testing and refinement of man is right and is for the purpose of man’s salvation and purification. You will attain knowledge of God’s righteousness and holiness, and at the same time you will know God’s work and see the greatness of His love. What a great reward that is! Can you reap such a reward without seeking the truth, always approaching God and His work based on your own notions and imaginings? Certainly not. Because man is so deeply corrupted by Satan, all his acts and deeds and all that he reveals are of the disposition of Satan, and they are all contrary to the truth and hostile to God. Man is not fit to enjoy God’s great love. Yet God is still so concerned with man, conferring grace unto him each day, and arranging for him all manner of people, events, and things to test and refine him, so that he can have a change. God reveals man by means of every sort of environment, having him reflect and know himself and understand the truth and gain life. God loves man so much, and His love is so real that man can see it and touch it. If you have experienced all this, you can feel that all God does is for the sake of man’s salvation, and that this is the truest love. Were it not for God doing such practical work, none could say how far man would have fallen! Yet there are many people who do not see God’s true love, who still pursue fame, profit and status, who strive to be head and shoulders above the rest, who wish always to ensnare and control others. Are they not setting themselves up in rivalry to God? If they continue down that path, the consequences will be unthinkable! God, with His work of judgment, exposes man’s corruption so that he may know it. He puts a stop to man’s erroneous pursuits. God does an excellent job! Though what God does exposes man and judges him, it also saves him. This is true love. When you have realized this for yourself, will you not then have gained this aspect of the truth? When a person has realized this for themselves and reached this understanding, and when they have understood these truths, do they still have complaints toward God? No—they are all gone. They can then willingly and unswervingly submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements. The next time a trial or a refinement occurs, or they are pruned and dealt with, they will quickly realize that what God is doing is right, and that God is revealing them and saving them. They will soon be able to accept and submit, obeying God without stressing their own reason, free of notions and complaints. If people can submit to this extent, it is through having experienced many refinements, perfected by the work of the Holy Spirit.
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