Let’s continue to fellowship on the aspect of not contending. What does not contending mean? It means not arguing, not contending for status, not being competitive, and not arguing with you over some statement or other. If you recognize what I say to you, you accept it; if you do not recognize it, I will not force you. If your comprehension is distorted, I will expose you and correct you. If you can comprehend it purely, that is best; if you cannot comprehend it purely, I will not make you accept it by force. You can just let things take their natural course and come to know it slowly. In addition, whether in interactions or conversations between people, when speaking, people always contend for reputation, contend for superiority, contend to show off, and contend for others’ high regard. People also often act this way when coming into contact with the incarnate God. You should not treat the incarnate God with the viewpoints with which you treat humankind, viewing the incarnate God as the same as corrupt humankind. You see, when I am speaking with you, I try to keep things conversational to let all of you talk freely about what’s in your hearts, and chat about what you know and understand. It may be that what you say does not conform to the facts or is not very objective, but I still give you the opportunity to speak. Our usual chatting is not a formal gathering; everyone has the right to speak. I will not make you all listen only to Me, but rather try to let everyone speak. Sometimes, through casual chatting, some problems in the work are discovered, so we go ahead and resolve the problems. If there are no problems, everyone can open their hearts and chat, feel at ease, and just treat it as entertainment. No matter what occasion I am at or what group of people I am with, I will not say, “No one’s voice is allowed to be louder than Mine. I must be superior to all of you. Especially when discussing an issue, I must do the most talking, and My insights must be the most profound. No one else can surpass Me. If you surpass Me, then I will contend with you for superiority.” I will not do this. Although I must speak no matter the occasion, I am still not too keen on talking a lot; I like to let everyone speak. Sometimes I ask everyone, “Have you been learning any dances lately? Which dances have you learned?” If someone says something wrong, or what they say is not objective or accurate, there is no need to argue. Some people say, “What if someone affronts You?” What does it mean to affront Me? I really haven’t come across anyone who publicly judges Me, curses Me, or contradicts Me. If there really were such a person, I would have to ask them, “Why are you doing this? Does what you say align with the facts?” If what they said was right, I would apologize to them. If they were wrong, I would have to fellowship on the truth with them, so that they could recognize their own problem, and that would be enough. I would not contend with them for superiority, insisting that they concede to Me and acknowledge that I am the boss. So, sometimes when everyone is chatting together, some people’s voices get louder and louder, and the discussion gets quite heated; I just patiently listen to them speak. Corrupt humankind is different. You see, when some people talk together, they end up arguing. Deep down, they look down on each other, and they argue endlessly, insisting on contending over who is right and who is wrong, asking everyone to judge, and not allowing anyone to affront them. Sometimes when some people converse with Me, they interrupt, jump ahead, or make some amateur comments, and even affront Me. I feel it’s no big deal; they are not doing it on purpose. People all have corrupt dispositions, so it is very normal to have this kind of conduct. There are even people who, when handling matters with Me, make decisions directly without waiting for Me to speak. I think to Myself, “You made the decision directly without discussing this matter with everyone, but your way of handling it is reasonable, so it’s fine.” Then I don’t say anything. I do not argue with you; I’m able to do this, and I really am doing this. If leaders and workers ask Me about the various items of professional work in the church, I fellowship and give pointers based on whatever comes to mind at the time, and then the leaders and workers go to the church to convey and implement it. Later, when I go to the church and see some people, I just listen on the sidelines when they fellowship on the work. Actually, I know all these things, but some people think I don’t. They think, “This is the business of us humans; it has nothing to do with You. You are an onlooker, so You should just listen to us speak.” In that situation, I don’t say much; I do not argue with people. But corrupt humankind is unable to do this. Anyone with a bit of status or who bears some responsibility wants to have the final say among people, to protect their status, and to protect their official post. If someone does not take them seriously, they feel particularly upset, feeling that their dignity, pride, and character have been greatly challenged. I feel nothing about this kind of thing; in My heart and mind, I am not interested in things like status, reputation, and prestige among people. If wherever I go, there are always people following behind Me, always surrounding and crowding around Me like I’m the center of attention, or if people always address Me with honorifics, being very polite to Me, flattering Me, and treating Me like an extraordinary person or an elder with status, I really feel uncomfortable. If you stand on an equal footing with Me and chat calmly, I feel quite at ease; if you act servile and particularly artificial in front of Me, I really feel quite uncomfortable. But almost one hundred percent of corrupt humankind cannot overcome the hurdle of status, reputation, and pride; they all pursue and enjoy these things.

When I was chatting with someone, they brought something up, and following their topic, I brought something up too. They thought to themselves that I wanted to contend with them for superiority, so they immediately brought up two more things to see if I could bring up two more. I have said that chatting is not as serious and rigorous as doing work; it is just casual. As long as everyone is happy, it’s fine; there aren’t so many twists and turns involved. I am a simple person. Whatever someone talks about, I just chime in and chat a bit along those lines, but it ended up causing trouble. What did they mean? Whatever topic they chatted about, I couldn’t talk about it anymore. If I kept talking, they wouldn’t look superior and would complain in their heart, “Why are You so clueless? Why don’t You understand what I mean? Who do You think You are? You even want to interact with me on an equal footing!” Seeing that they didn’t like chatting this way, I got the idea. I interact with people using the ways of normal humanity. If it doesn’t work, I will rationally yield; I will not argue with people. It is impossible to get along with nonbelievers, and some people in the church are also unreasonable. When you fellowship with them, their sense of pride keeps them from saying anything outright, but they have corrupt dispositions inside, and they will still contend with you. They are incapable of refraining from contention. Why? That is their life. For matters that do not involve truth principles, there is no need to start an argument. For example, Easterners say drinking tea is healthy, while Westerners say drinking coffee is healthy. Which one is actually healthy? There is no need to argue about such things. This matter does not involve truth principles; just choose based on your own preferences, living conditions, and lifestyle habits. If you have the means to drink tea, then drink tea; if you don’t, then drink plain boiled water. No matter what you drink, it does not affect how you conduct yourself at all. Sometimes, our thoughts and views are different, yet I do not split hairs with you; I still adhere to My principles. I will not argue with you over things that do not involve principles. Absolutely never will I argue until I’m blue in the face with you over a statement that in no way involves principles, or a doctrine or theory, just to make Myself look like someone who strongly adheres to principles. I will absolutely never do that! Sometimes when some people ask Me questions, I will fellowship on the principles with them, and in special circumstances, I will directly tell them what to do. Afterward, they propose another way of doing it and ask Me if that works. Hearing that the effect of their proposed way is about the same as Mine, I say, “If it is convenient for you to do it and the local conditions are suitable, you can do it according to your idea; you don’t have to do it according to what I said.” I will absolutely never say, “My word is law; what I say goes, and you must listen.” It is also fine if you do not listen. If what you say is reasonable, does not differ much from the approach I suggested, has the same goal, and the effect is about the same, then you can choose not to listen to My suggestion. I will absolutely never force you.

A few years ago, some people performed a dance for a program. Seeing that there were some problems with some of their movements, I pointed them out to them. Some of them were unhappy to hear this and were unwilling to accept it. I did not argue with them; I just asked them to watch it carefully a few times to see if there were problems with those movements. I said, “If you still can’t feel the problems I mentioned, then I will give you another alternative. Try this alternative and compare it with the previous one to see which is better.” It turned out that they tried doing it according to the alternative I suggested and felt that My alternative was indeed better, and only then did they admit that there were some problems with the previous dance movements. They couldn’t realize it at the time. It might just be that onlookers see more clearly than those involved. They had become proficient in those movements because they performed them constantly, so suddenly hearing Me say some movements were not good, they might have felt their pride was hurt and were momentarily unable to accept it. I say it is normal for young people to be like this. What is the purpose of telling you this? I just want to tell you that, under normal circumstances, I will absolutely never argue with you over issues that do not involve principles. If it involves a matter of principle, I will only point out a solution for you. I will not forcibly use status to suppress you and make you listen to Me. In most cases, I slowly sort things out, talk them through, and resolve them. If all these methods do not work, perhaps some people will have to be pruned. Of course, some people are pruned not because they affronted Me, but because they violated administrative decrees, violated principles, and caused disturbances to the church’s work. Therefore, when any person makes a mistake or rebels and is disciplined or punished, it is not because they affronted God’s identity or God’s status, not because they affronted God, but because they violated principles and violated administrative decrees. Look at the whole world: Has anyone ever been punished or suffered retribution for affronting God? No one. There are too many people in this world who do not believe in God, who curse God, who speak preposterous words, and who speak presumptuous words. When they are ultimately punished, which of them is punished for affronting God? None of them; it is all because they have committed numerous evils, and they should be punished based on these evil deeds. When encountering matters that can cause arguments, I try to talk things through with you, allowing you to understand what the principles for handling the matter are. If you have a better plan, of course you can also stick to it. I will not contend with you for superiority, nor will I say, “Since I have spoken, it must be implemented according to My plan. Even if your plan is good, it cannot be implemented. I must have the final say in this matter!” I will not do this. I will try to get your input and bring everyone’s strengths into play. If none of you have any opinions or ideas, then I will have the final say—this goes without saying. But I will absolutely never contend with any of you over pride, status, or who gets the final say. Having interacted and dealt with you these years, perhaps you have also appreciated this: Many times I have said things to you, and after I finished speaking, you had your own ideas and did not practice or implement what I said. Then I would try to find a way to explain it more clearly. If you can accept it, that is even better. If you do not accept it and it affects the church’s work, then the church has administrative decrees: If you should be dismissed, you will be dismissed; if you should be pruned, you will be pruned; the church will handle you however it should. As far as the matter itself is concerned, I will absolutely never argue with you over anything to win back My pride, or to protect My status and prestige. I only focus on clearly explaining the whole story of the matter and the principles people should understand. I patiently explain things again and again so that you can better understand the truth and enter the truth reality. The purpose of fellowshipping on this content is to allow you to better understand the incarnate God. Besides having an understanding of the normal and practical living out of God incarnate on the outside, you can also have a further understanding of the essence, disposition, thoughts, and viewpoints of the incarnate God. We just fellowshipped on the topic of not contending. When status and pride are involved, the principle the incarnate God follows is not to argue with people, and not to contend with people for status, pride, or reputation. The propensity to contend with others over these things is precisely a prominent manifestation of corrupt humankind revealing corrupt dispositions. Therefore, not contending is also where the essence of the incarnate God’s humanity differs from that of humankind, and it is an aspect of the content that people should understand.