Books of The Church of Almighty God-Chapter 9. Seeking God’s Will and Putting Truth Into Practice to the Greatest Extent Possible
As soon as people become hasty while fulfilling their duties, they don’t know how to experience it; as soon as they are busy with matters, their spiritual states become troubled; they are unable to maintain a normal situation. How can this be so? If you are asked to do a little work, you become unconventional, unrestricted, do not draw close to God and become distanced from God. This proves that people do not know how to experience. No matter what you do, you should first understand why you are actually doing this and what the nature of the matter is. If it is categorized as fulfilling your duty, then you should ponder: How should I do this? How should I fulfill my duty well so that I am not doing it perfunctorily? This is a matter in which you should draw close to God. Drawing close to God is seeking the truth in this matter, it is seeking the way to practice, it is seeking the will of God, and it is seeking how to satisfy God. These are the methods for drawing close to God while doing things; it is not performing a religious ceremony or an outward action; it is done for the purpose of practicing in accordance with the truth after seeking God’s will. If you always say “Thank God, thank God” when you are not doing anything, but when you are doing something, you still do it according to your own will, this type of thanks is an outward action. When fulfilling your duty or working on something, you should always think: How should I fulfill this duty? What is God’s intention? Through matters, you draw close to God, and through drawing close to God, you seek the principles and truths to do things, you seek God’s will from within and do not leave God in all that you do. This is a person who truly believes in God. Now when some matter comes upon people, regardless of what the actual situation is, they think that they can do this and that, but God is not in their hearts, and they do it according to their own intentions. Regardless of whether the course of action is suitable or not, or whether it is in accordance with truth or not, they only stiffen their necks and act according to their personal intentions. It usually seems that God is in their hearts, but when they do things, God is not in their hearts. Some people say: “I can’t grow close to God in the things I do; in the past I was accustomed to performing religious ceremonies, and I tried drawing close to God, but it was to no effect; I couldn’t draw near to Him.” This kind of person does not have God in his heart, he only has himself in his heart and he simply cannot put truth into practice in the things he does. Not doing things in accordance with truth is doing things according to your own will, and doing things based on your own will is leaving God; that is, God is not in your heart. Human ideas usually look good and right to people and they look like they do not violate truth that much. People feel that doing it this way is putting truth into practice, they feel that doing it this way is submitting to God. Actually, people are not really seeking God and praying to God about this. They are not striving to do it well to satisfy God’s will, nor striving to do it well according to His requirements. They do not have this true situation, and they don’t have such desire. This is the greatest error people make in their practice, because you believe in God, but God is not in your heart. How is this not a sin? How is this not deceiving yourself? What effect will believing this way have? Where is the practical significance in believing in God?
God was very dissatisfied with something in particular you did; if you pondered within while doing this thing: How would this matter be viewed by God if it is brought before Him? Would God be happy or irritated if He knows about this matter? Would God detest it? You didn’t seek it out, did you? Even if people reminded you, you would still think that this matter was no big deal and that it didn’t violate principles and that it wasn’t a sin. As a result, you ruined it and have provoked God to great anger even to the point of despising you. Think things through so you won’t regret them; this is what you must comply with. If you sought and examined the matter thoroughly before acting, then would you not have a handle over the matter? Even though sometimes people’s states are not good, if they solemnly inspect and seek everything that needs to be done in God’s presence, then there wouldn’t be any big mistakes. It is hard for people to avoid mistakes in putting truth into practice. If you know how to do things in accordance with truth when you do them, but you don’t carry them out in accordance with truth, then the problem is that you are not fond of truth. A person who is not fond of truth will not be changed in disposition. If you cannot accurately grasp the will of God and don’t know how to practice, then you should communicate with others. If no one feels like they can see the matter clearly, then you should carry out the most reasonable solution; but if you ultimately discover that there is an error in carrying it out this way, then you should quickly correct it, and God will not count the error as a sin. Because your intent was right at the time of putting this matter into practice, and you were practicing in accordance with truth, only you didn’t see it clearly, and there were some errors in your actions; this is an extenuating circumstance. However, now many people merely rely on their own two hands to work and rely on their own minds to do this and that, and they seldom ponder: Does practicing this way conform to God’s will? Would God be happy if I do it this way? Would God trust me if I do it this way? Would I be putting truth into practice if I do it this way? If God hears this, would He be able to say, “This matter is done correctly and suitably! Keep it up!”? Are you able to seriously examine everything like this? Are you able to be meticulous in everything? Or you should ponder if God despises the way you are doing it, how everyone else feels about the way you are doing it, whether you are doing it based on your own will, or to satisfy your own desires…. You have to put much thought into it, ask many questions, and do more seeking, and the errors will become smaller and smaller. Doing things this way proves that you are a person who genuinely seeks truth and that you are a person who reveres God, because you are doing things in accordance with the direction required by truth.
If one’s action comes apart from the truth, then he is the same as an unbeliever. This is the type of person who is without God in his heart, who leaves God, and this kind of person is like a hired worker in God’s family who works for his master and receives a little compensation, and then he is gone. This is simply not a person who believes in God. Was it not mentioned before, “What can you do to gain God’s approval”? This has been spoken of, right? Approval from God is the first thing you should think about and work for; it should be the principle and scope in your practice. The reason that you should determine if what you are doing conforms with truth is because if it conforms with truth, then it certainly conforms with God’s will. It is not that you should determine if the matter is right or wrong, or if it is in accordance with everyone else’s tastes, or if it is in accordance with your own desires. Rather, it is to determine if it is in accordance with truth, if it benefits the work and interests of the church. If you consider these aspects, then you will be more and more in line with God’s will when you do things. If you don’t consider these aspects and merely rely on your own will to do things, then you are guaranteed to do them incorrectly, because the will of man is not the truth and of course is not in conformance with God. If you want to be approved by God, then you must practice according to the truth, rather than according to your own intentions. Some people do sly things behind closed doors or do some private matters. After they are done, the brothers and sisters say that the things they did appear quite inappropriate, but they will not recognize them this way. They think that this is a personal matter and doesn’t involve the work of the church, it doesn’t involve the finances of the church and it doesn’t involve people in the church, so it doesn’t count as violating the scope of truth and God should not interfere with this matter. Some things look to you like they are private matters and don’t involve any principle or truth. However, from the perspective of the brothers and sisters, when you do this thing, it looks like you are being very selfish and that you are giving no consideration to the work of God’s family and how it will affect God’s family and that you are only considering your own benefit. This already involves the order of the saints and it involves the issues of human nature. What you are doing doesn’t involve the interests of the church and it doesn’t involve truth, but what you are doing violates the morals of human nature and ultimately, it doesn’t conform to truth. No matter what you are doing, no matter how big the matter is, and regardless of whether you are fulfilling your duty in God’s family, or whether it is your private matter, you must consider whether this matter conforms with God’s will, whether this matter is something a person with humanity should do, and whether or not what you are doing would make God happy. You need to think about these things. If you do this, then you are a person who seeks the truth and a person who truly believes in God. If you devoutly treat every matter and every truth this way, then you will be able to transform your disposition. Some people think that they are doing something personal, so they ignore the truth, thinking: This is a private matter, and I will do it as I wish. They do it in whatever way makes them happy, and in whatever way is advantageous to them; they don’t give the slightest amount of consideration to how it affects God’s family and they don’t consider whether or not it is in accordance with the order of the saints. Finally, when they are finished with the matter, they are dark inside and uncomfortable; they are uncomfortable but they don’t know how it happened. Is this not a worthy retribution? If you do things that are not approved by God, then you have offended God. If people are not fond of truth, and frequently do things based on their own will, then they will frequently offend God. This kind of person is usually not approved by God in what they do and if they do not turn back, then they will not be far from punishment.
From Records of Christ’s Talks
Source from：The Church of Almighty God
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