How to Correctly Approach One’s Own Caliber

Having fellowshipped about what caliber is, as well as how to divide the levels and types of people’s caliber, after you finished listening, did you gain any benefit? (Yes.) Do you truly know your own caliber is poor? (Yes.) Some people with no caliber say: “How is it that I have no caliber? Even if my caliber were average or poor, that would still be fine.” No one is willing to fall into the level of having no caliber, being an idiot, fool, or useless person, but as luck would have it, some people, evaluating themselves based on their primary manifestations and the results of doing their duty over these years, truly fall into the level of people with no caliber. Does this make some people negative? When many things are not made clear, people foolishly think, “I have ability, I have capability, I am wise, my caliber is not bad, I am noble, I am someone in God’s kingdom, I am a pillar, a mainstay,” foolishly clinging to their wishful dreams, feeling quite good, quite confident, thinking they have potential and hope; they are not negative, and live with purpose. Once they know the true facts, however, they then become sad, thinking, “Doesn’t this mean I have no hope of receiving salvation?” and fall into a negative state. If these things are not made clear, people are foolishly arrogant; the more foolish a person is, the more arrogant they are, and the more boundless their arrogance becomes. Those who are clever, after accepting the supply of the truth over these years, will reflect and self-examine, will compare the truth to themselves, and gradually their revelations of an arrogant disposition will lessen. The poorer a person’s caliber, the more foolishly arrogant they are. Isn’t there such a saying: “They are nothing, yet they bow down to no one”? This saying is quite fitting; those who are nothing bow down to no one. Why? It is because their caliber is too poor. To what extent? To the extent of having no intelligence, not knowing the extent of their capability, not knowing how their intelligence measures up, not knowing that there are always people better than themselves, and not knowing what good caliber is. And to what extent does their arrogance reach? To the extent that people find it disgusting and nauseating to look at—this is foolish arrogance. “They are nothing, yet they bow down to no one” means they can accomplish nothing, their own affairs in life are a complete mess, they cannot see through anything, they have no thoughts or viewpoints, and they cannot tell whether others’ viewpoints are correct or whether they are accurate, and they just foolishly persist in their arrogance, thinking, “I have ability, I have capability, I am wise, I am better than others!” Tell Me, is it better to let them be foolishly arrogant people who bow down to no one, or to let them know that their caliber is poor, that they are nothing, just fools, useless people, and mentally deficient, so that they become negative? Which do you choose? (Let them become negative, because if they are foolishly arrogant, they are likely to do things that violate principles, and they can disrupt and disturb the church’s work.) If they become negative, they can return to the reason of humanity and be more well-behaved, doing fewer things that disrupt and disturb. This is a protection for them. Although they have not done many things beneficial to others, doing fewer things that disrupt and disturb means they will commit much fewer transgressions and evil deeds, and their likelihood of being punished in the future will decrease, right? (Yes.) Without going into whether they can attain salvation, as that is something relatively distant, will their likelihood of violating God’s administrative decrees and offending God’s disposition decrease? And will their chances of survival increase? (Yes.) Judging from the perspective of these benefits, letting people recognize their own caliber and ultimately realize they have no caliber and become negative actually turns out to be a good thing. Otherwise, when people say, “You are nothing, yet you bow down to no one—this is foolish arrogance!” they simply cannot see through it or recognize it; they become defiant and still think, “My caliber isn’t poor! And you say I’m foolishly arrogant. I’m much better than a fool!” This further proves that they are truly foolish, their intelligence is too low, and even more so they need to accept the fact that they have no caliber. What are the benefits of accepting this fact? It is not to make you negative, but to help you treat yourself correctly and avoid acting foolishly. People are arrogant because they have a corrupt disposition and have no self-knowledge whatsoever. However, some people’s arrogance is normal arrogance. For example, some people have capital from having been imprisoned and endured suffering, they have contributed to the church in certain ways, or they have gifts that make them better than others; because they have an arrogant disposition combined with having some capital, it can still be considered understandable that they reveal arrogance. But if you are nothing, if you fundamentally can accomplish nothing, have made no contributions, and even more so have no strengths, yet you are still arrogant, this doesn’t make sense—it lacks rationality. Now it is made clear to you: You have no caliber, you are nothing, and you do not even have any strengths whatsoever. Your mind is empty, and compared to people with thoughts, your mind lacks content. Though you are human all the same, you fall far short of them; in God’s view, you do not meet the standard of being human. So, what are you still being arrogant about? By the measure of God’s words, you do not meet the standard of being human. In God’s eyes, you should not be treated as a human being. But because God’s grace is immense, God has exalted you, chosen you, and treated you as a human, allowing you to do duty in God’s house. Does God treat you as a human to see you treat God and the truth that He supplies you in such a foolishly arrogant way? To see you treat your duty and your life in this way? No. Since God treats you as a human and tells you the various truths that humans should understand, He hopes you can be a true human, hopes you can accept the thoughts humans should have, and will not be foolishly arrogant. Therefore, being negative is wrong—you should not be negative. Since God has not treated you or ignored you based on your caliber, but instead has treated you as a normal person and used you in this way, you should live up to this grace from God and not disappoint God. Whatever caliber you have and whatever work you can do, just do that work well. Do not try to spout high-sounding ideas, do not do what a person should not do, and do not have extravagant ideas or ambitions that a person should not have. Do what a person ought to do and live up to God’s exaltation. Isn’t this appropriate? Doesn’t this solve the problem of being negative? (Yes.)

Discerning the various manifestations of people with different calibers and providing these specific examples is meant to help you correlate yourself with them. It is so you can accurately identify your own position, rationally approach your own caliber and various conditions, and rationally approach God’s exposure, judgment, and pruning of you, or the work arranged for you, and so that you are able to submit and be grateful from the depths of your heart, rather than show resistance and repulsion. When people can rationally approach their own caliber and then accurately identify their own position, acting as created beings that God wants in a down-to-earth way, doing what they should do properly based on their inherent caliber, and dedicating their loyalty and all their effort, they achieve God’s satisfaction. Since God has given you this caliber and these conditions, God will not force you to do things that are difficult for you, He will not force a fish to live on land. However much God has given you, that is what He has you offer. What God has not given you, He will not demand excessively. If you constantly set overly high requirements for yourself, trying to be a strong person, a superhuman, someone beyond the ordinary, this indicates you have a corrupt disposition—this is ambition. If your caliber is good, you take on more work; if your caliber is average, you can only take on less work. No matter what duty you can do, give it your all, give your loyalty, and act according to principles—do not try to spout high-sounding ideas. Always wanting to prove that you are not an ordinary person, always wanting others to regard you highly—this is wrong. This shows a great lack of self-awareness, not knowing your own measure. If you keep pursuing according to your ambition and desires, things will not end well for you. Therefore, people with poor caliber should not always aspire to be leaders, team heads, or supervisors; they should not aim too high. If your caliber is poor, then just dutifully do the things that people with poor caliber can do. If you lack thoughts and cannot handle any work, do not force it—since God has not given you that caliber, He has not set overly high requirements for you. As for the truth principles, practice them insofar as you can understand and accept them—this is the most important. What you are able to apprehend is what God has given you. Have you applied these things to your duty or to the commission God has entrusted to you? If you have applied them, then you have given your all and offered your loyalty. God will be satisfied, and you will be up to standard as a created being. If your caliber is poor, God will absolutely not make requirements of you according to the standard for those with good caliber. God will not do that. Those without caliber are of the lowest level of caliber among people. If some believers in God have no caliber, then how should they practice? Do you want to follow God? Do you admit that God is sovereign over everything concerning man? Do you want to submit to God’s orchestration and arrangements for you? If you are willing to accept and submit, then settle your heart and accept all of God’s arrangements for you. According to your caliber, you can only do some jobs that require physical effort, jobs that are not visible, looked down upon, and unremembered by people—if this is your situation, you should accept it from God and not harbor complaints, and even more so, you should not choose your duties based on your own wishes. Do whatever God’s house arranges for you, and as long as it is within your caliber, you should do it well. For example, if you are assigned to raise pigs, you should feed them well so that the brothers and sisters can eat good pork. If you are assigned to raise chickens, you should feed and manage them well so that they lay eggs normally during the laying season, and you should also protect them from other animals, making it so everyone who sees the chickens you raise will say that they are well-raised. This proves that you cherish all things created by God, and you can manage them well; it proves that no matter what kind of creature or animal it is, you can cherish it and manage it well, taking this as your responsibility and duty to carry out. Even though you cannot do other work, even though you cannot play a key and decisive role in the work of the church, and you have no significant contributions, if you can exert your full effort and loyalty in some unremarkable work and seek only to satisfy God, that is enough. This is not failing God’s exaltation of you. Do not be picky about tasks based on whether they are dirty or tiring, whether others see you doing them, whether people praise you, or whether they look down on you for doing them. Do not think about these things; just seek to accept it from God, submit, and fulfill the duties you should. When I fellowship about the manifestations of people with no caliber, I may say that you are a fool, a useless person, and mentally deficient. However, if you can shoulder the jobs entrusted to you, and in the end you do not let down God’s exaltation of you or the breath of life God has granted you, you do not live or eat in vain, you do not enjoy any of the material things God supplies for humankind in vain, and you do not fail to live up to the words from God’s mouth, that is sufficient. Even though in terms of caliber you do not measure up to being a complete person, if you can do your duty and do the work with this loyalty and sincerity, at the very least, in God’s heart, you are up to standard as a created being. What God wants is this loyalty and sincerity; He wants a created being who is up to standard. No matter what duty God’s house arranges for you, you accept it from God, and can accept and submit. This is the most precious thing. If you have done what God requires of you, and you have offered all you are able to offer, will God still have higher demands of you? If your sincerity and loyalty are seen as precious in God’s eyes, then your life has value. Is this comprehension good? (Yes.)

Some people say: “I still feel I don’t get it. Why does God predestine people with all kinds of calibers? Since God wants people to bear testimony for Him, practice the truth, and cast off their corrupt dispositions, why can’t He give people good caliber? Is it so hard for God to give people good caliber? If God made it so people had abilities in all areas—cognitive ability, the ability to make judgments, the ability to identify things, the ability to respond to things, decision-making ability, innovative ability, and even more so the ability to evaluate and appreciate things—giving people abilities in all areas, wouldn’t people’s caliber be good? Even if He gave people average caliber, wouldn’t they then be able to comprehend the truth to an average level? If people can comprehend the truth, wouldn’t they then be able to practice the truth? And wouldn’t they be able to cast off their corrupt dispositions and achieve salvation?” What is the problem with people having these thoughts? People do not understand why God gives them such thoroughly average caliber. It is hard to find leaders with good caliber, and it is extremely difficult to do church work well. People think, “If God gave people good caliber, wouldn’t it be easier to find leaders? Wouldn’t church work be easier to do? Why doesn’t God give people good caliber?” Looking at it from the perspective of the overall work of God’s house, of course, if there were more people with good caliber, church work would indeed be easier. However, there is a premise: In God’s house, God is doing His own work, and people do not play a decisive role. Therefore, whether people’s caliber is good, average, or poor does not determine the results of God’s work. The ultimate results to be achieved are accomplished by God. Everything is led by God; everything is the work of the Holy Spirit. From the perspective of God’s work, this matter should be explained this way—this is one reason. There is another reason: After being corrupted by Satan, people possess Satan’s corrupt dispositions as their life’s essence; that is, they all live by their corrupt dispositions, and their life is governed by their corrupt dispositions. If, in addition to this, someone possesses good or extraordinary caliber, and their abilities in all areas are complete, perfect, and flawless, it will foster their corrupt dispositions. It will lead to the rampant escalation of their corrupt dispositions, making them uncontrollable, and lead to that person becoming more arrogant, intransigent, deceitful, and wicked. The difficulty of their accepting the truth will increase, and there will be no way to resolve their corrupt dispositions. This is another reason. Additionally, God gives people such caliber because the humankind God wants to save is inherently an incomplete humankind, with abilities in all aspects that are average and have defects. Moreover, knowing God’s words and the truth is not accomplished merely by using various abilities; it requires a process. What does this process include? It includes changes in the environment, the growth of a person’s age, the increase of life experiences and knowledge, and the experience gained through various environments, which allow people, on the foundation of their inherent caliber and instincts, to gradually come to understand and know what the truth in God’s words actually refers to; then, they accept and practice God’s words. Through such a process, the truth in God’s words is worked into a person to become their life—it doesn’t become a theory of living or a philosophy and means of living; rather, God’s words become the foundation for their existence. Such a person is a new person, a newly born life. This is an essential process. Even if your caliber and abilities in all aspects are exceptionally good and high, these processes cannot be omitted. As a created human being, in ultimately achieving the transformation of God’s words into your life, no one can skip any step of the entire process that must be experienced. That is, everyone will develop notions, imaginings, resistance, opposition, and rebellion toward God. They will all go through setbacks, failures, stumbling, dismissal, pruning, judgment, and chastisement, experience various environments, encounter various types of people, and other such processes. Regardless of how good or high your caliber is, or how strong your abilities are in all aspects, none of these processes or steps can be omitted. Therefore, even if God were to give you exceptionally high caliber and abilities, it would still be a waste. It is better for you to be an ordinary, average person. Although you may have some defects in humanity, you can experience God’s work, understand God’s words after hearing them, and recognize your weaknesses and defects. In this way, for one thing, what you gain is more practical, and you receive more from God; for another, you come to know your natural abilities more accurately, and you become more rational. That’s why God does not intend to give everyone good caliber—He gives people average caliber.