Words of Almighty God of the Last Days

People who are arrogant and willful find it hard to accept the truth. They can’t accept it when they hear even the slightest thing that doesn’t align with their own views, opinions, and perspectives. They don’t care if what others say is right or wrong, or who says it, or the context in which it’s said, or whether it relates to their own responsibilities and duties. They don’t care about these things. Their top priority is satisfying their own feelings. Is this not willfulness? What losses does being willful ultimately bring upon people? It makes it difficult for them to gain the truth. Not accepting the truth is caused by man’s corrupt disposition, and the final outcome of this is that such a person cannot easily gain the truth. Anything that is naturally revealed from man’s nature essence is in opposition to the truth and has nothing to do with the truth; not one such thing aligns with or approaches the truth. Therefore, to achieve salvation, one must accept and practice the truth. If a person cannot accept the truth and always wants to act according to their own preferences, they cannot achieve salvation. If you want to follow God and do your duty well, you must first of all avoid being impulsive when things do not go your way. You must first calm yourself and be quiet before God, and in your heart, you must pray to and seek from Him. Do not be willful; submit first. Only with this kind of mindset can you better resolve problems. If you can persist in living before God, and if you can pray to and seek from God, and face things with a mindset of submission no matter what happens to you, then it does not matter how many revelations there are of your corrupt disposition, or what transgressions you have committed—so long as you seek the truth, they can all be resolved, and no matter what trials befall you, you will be able to stand firm. As long as you have the right mindset, are able to accept the truth, and submit to God in accordance with His requirements, you will be entirely capable of putting the truth into practice. Even if you are a little rebellious and resistant at times, and you are sometimes prone to arguing and cannot submit, if you can pray to God and turn your rebellious state around, you can accept the truth. Having done so, reflect on why such rebellion and resistance arose within you. Find the reason for this, then seek the truth to resolve it, and that aspect of your corrupt disposition can thus be purified. After you experience several such failures and stumbles, and you become able to put the truth into practice, your corrupt disposition will gradually be cast off.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three

In the performance of their duties, some people often act arbitrarily and recklessly and are extremely willful. When they are happy, they do a bit of work; when they are not, they sulk, become negative, and slack off. When others fellowship the truth with them, telling them that they cannot be so willful, they respond, “I know it’s wrong to act this way, but I grew up in a well-off, privileged family. All my family members indulged me; I was my parents’ little darling, and they always doted on me. That led me to develop this willful nature, so when I do my duty in God’s house, I’m particularly willful, and I don’t know how to seek the truth or cooperate with others. This is due to how I grew up. Am I to blame for that?” Is this understanding correct? Is this an attitude of pursuing the truth? (No.) Whenever anyone points out a small problem or flaw of theirs, they will make excuses for themselves and try to justify themselves. For instance, when someone says they only take the best pieces of food at meals, just looking out for themselves and giving no thought to others, they will say, “I’ve been like this since I was a child. It’s a habit. I’ve never thought about other people. I’ve always lived a privileged life, with parents who dote on me. I’m the apple of my whole family’s eye!” They will utter this load of foul, absurd statements. Is this not a bit shameless and brazen? Your parents dote on you—does that mean everyone else must, too? Your family dotes on you and indulges you—does that give you an excuse to act arbitrarily and recklessly in God’s house? Is that excuse valid? Is this the correct attitude to have toward your corrupt dispositions? Is this an attitude of pursuing the truth? (No.) No matter what difficulties or problems these people encounter, or what corrupt dispositions they reveal, they seek objective excuses to justify themselves, and they never seek the truth, never pray to God, and never come before God to reflect on themselves. If they don’t reflect on themselves, can they know their own problems and their own corrupt dispositions? (No.) If a person cannot know their own corruption, can they repent? (No.) If they cannot repent, what condition is it that they will invariably be living in? Will it not be one of self-forgiveness? Of feeling that though they have revealed corruption, they have not done evil or violated the administrative decrees—that though doing so was not in accordance with the truth principles, this was not intentional, and it is pardonable? (Yes.) Well, is that the sort of condition that someone who pursues the truth ought to have? … People who are particularly capricious and often behave recklessly and arbitrarily do not accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s words, nor do they accept being pruned. They also often make excuses for their failure to pursue the truth and their inability to accept being pruned. What disposition is that? Obviously, it is a disposition that is averse to the truth—the disposition of Satan. Man is possessed of Satan’s nature and its disposition, so without a doubt, people are of Satan. They are devils, the progeny of Satan, and the offspring of the great red dragon. Some people are able to admit that they are devils, Satans, and the offspring of the great red dragon, and they speak very prettily about their self-knowledge. But when they reveal a corrupt disposition and someone exposes them and prunes them, they will try with all their might to justify themselves and they will not accept the truth at all. What is the issue here? This utterly reveals them—they are not people who pursue the truth. When they talk about their self-knowledge, what they say sounds so good, so why can they not accept the truth when they are pruned? There is a problem here. What they say when they talk about their self-knowledge is false, deceptive, and misleading. Is this sort of thing not quite common? Is it easy to discern? It is, in fact. There are quite a few people who admit that they are devils and Satans when they speak of their self-knowledge, but do not repent or change afterward. So, is the self-knowledge they speak of true or false? Do they have sincere knowledge of themselves, or are they being hypocritical and trying to trick others? The answer is self-evident. Therefore, to see whether a person has true self-knowledge, you should not merely listen to them talk about it—you should look at the attitude they have toward being pruned, and whether they can accept the truth. That is the most crucial thing. Whoever does not accept being pruned has an essence of not accepting the truth, of refusing to accept it, and their disposition is averse to the truth. That is beyond doubt. Some people do not permit others to prune them, no matter how much corruption they have revealed—no one may prune them. They are allowed to talk about their own self-knowledge, in any way that they please, but if someone else exposes them, criticizes them, or prunes them, no matter how objective or in accordance with the facts it is, they will not accept it. No matter what kind of revelation of a corrupt disposition another person exposes in them, they will be extremely resistant and keep giving specious justifications for themselves, without even the slightest bit of true submission. If such people do not pursue the truth, there will be trouble. In the church, they are untouchable and irreproachable. When people say something good about them, it will make them happy; when people point out something bad about them, they will grow angry. Should someone expose them and say: “You’re a good person, but you’re quite willful. You’re always acting arbitrarily and recklessly. You need to accept being pruned. Wouldn’t it be better for you to get rid of these flaws and corrupt dispositions?” in response, they will say, “I haven’t done anything evil. I haven’t sinned. Why are you pruning me? I’ve been doted on at home since I was a child, by both my parents and grandparents. I’m their little darling, the apple of their eye. Now, here in God’s house, no one dotes on me at all—it’s no fun living here! You’re always picking at some fault of mine or another and trying to prune me. How am I supposed to live like that?” What is the problem here? The clear-sighted can tell at once that these people have been spoiled by their parents and family, and that even now, they do not know how to conduct themselves or live independently. Your family has doted on you like an idol, and you do not know your place in the universe. You have developed the vices of arrogance, self-righteousness, and extreme capriciousness, which you are not aware of and do not know to reflect on. You believe in God but do not listen to His words or practice the truth. Can you gain the truth with such a belief in God? Can you enter into the truth reality? Can you live out the true likeness of a human being? Certainly not.

—The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. What It Means to Pursue the Truth (1)

There is another group of people who do not pursue physical comfort, and instead seek to do things according to their own whims and according to their own moods. If they happen to be happy one day, they can endure a lot of suffering, and they won’t feel tired even if they work the whole day. But if they’re not happy, they will be disgruntled even if you just ask them to spend an extra minute on something, and if you reprimand them a little, they will say, “Stop talking! I feel repressed. If you keep talking, I won’t do my duty, and my failure to do my duty will be your fault. If I don’t receive blessings in the future it will be on your head, and you will bear all the responsibility for it!” People are volatile when they are in an abnormal state. Sometimes they will be capable of suffering and paying a price, but other times they will complain about just a little suffering, and even a minor issue will upset them. When they are in a bad mood, they will no longer want to do their duties, read God’s words, sing hymns, or attend gatherings and listen to sermons. They will just want to be alone for a while, and it will be impossible for anyone to help or support them. After a few days, they might get over it and feel better. Anything that fails to satisfy them makes them feel repressed. Is this kind of person not particularly willful? (Yes.) They are particularly willful. For example, if they want to go to sleep right away, they will insist on doing so. If someone says, “Can you hold on for ten more minutes? This task will be finished really soon. Let’s finish it, and then you can rest, okay?” they will reply, “No, I have to go to sleep right now! I’m so worn out, I absolutely have to sleep!” If someone persuades them, they will reluctantly keep going for a while, but they will feel repressed and averse. They often feel repressed about these matters and are unwilling to accept help from their brothers and sisters or to be supervised by leaders. If they make a mistake, they will not allow others to prune them. They do not wish to be restrained in any way. They think, “I believe in God so that I can find happiness, so why should I make things difficult for myself? Why should my life be so exhausting? People ought to live happily. They shouldn’t pay so much attention to these regulations and those systems. What’s the use of always abiding by them? Right now, in this moment, I am going to do whatever I want. None of you should have anything to say about that.” This kind of person is particularly willful and dissolute: They do not allow themselves to suffer any restraint, nor do they wish to feel restrained in any work environment. They do not wish to adhere to the regulations and principles of God’s house, they are unwilling to accept the principles that people should hold to in their self-conduct, and they do not even wish to abide by what conscience and reason say that they should do. They want to do as they please, do whatever makes them happy, whatever will benefit them and make them comfortable. They believe that to live under these restraints would violate their will, that it would be a kind of self-abuse, that it would be too hard on themselves, and that people should not live like that. They think that people should live free and liberated, indulging their fleshly desires with abandon, as well as their aspirations and wishes. They think they should do as they please—say whatever they want, do whatever they want, and go wherever they want, without having to consider the consequences or other people’s feelings, and especially without having to consider their own responsibilities and obligations, or the duties that believers ought to do, the truth principles they ought to abide by, the truth realities they ought to live out, or the life path they should follow. This type of person always wants to do as they please in society and among other people, but no matter where they go, they can never obtain that. They believe that God’s house emphasizes human rights, grants people complete freedom, and that it cares about humanity, and about tolerating and forbearing with people, and that after they come to God’s house they should be able to indulge in their fleshly desires as much as they want. However, because God’s house has stipulations and administrative decrees, they still cannot do as they please. Since they do not seek the truth, this repressive emotion of theirs remains unresolved. They do not live to fulfill any kind of responsibilities or to complete any missions, or to become a true person. Their belief in God is not to fulfill the duty of a created being, complete their mission, and attain salvation. Regardless of the people they are among, the environments they are in, or the profession they engage in, their ultimate goal is to find and gratify themselves. The aim of everything they do revolves around this, and self-gratification is their lifelong desire and the goal of their pursuit.

—The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (5)

One sort of person is enthusiastic at heart in their belief in God. Any duty is fine for them, and so is a bit of hardship, but their temperament is unstable—they’re emotional and capricious, inconsistent. They act by their mood alone. When they’re happy, they do the job they’re tasked with well, and they get along well with whomever they cooperate with and whomever they associate with. They’re willing to take on more of the duty, too—whatever duty they’re performing, they have a sense of responsibility for it. That’s how they act when they’re in a good state. There may be a reason that they’re in a good state: Maybe they were praised for doing a good job with their duty, and won the group’s esteem and approval. Or, maybe lots of people appreciate the work they produced, so they’re puffed up like a balloon that gets fuller with every puff of praise. And so, they go on performing the same duty each day, yet all the while, they never grasp God’s intentions or seek the truth principles. They’re always acting on the strength of their experience. Is experience the truth? Is it reliable to act on experience? Does it accord with the truth principles? Acting on experience doesn’t accord with the principles; there will necessarily be times when it fails. So, a day comes when they don’t perform their duty well. Many things go wrong, and they’re pruned. The group is unsatisfied with them. They get negative then: “I’m not performing this duty anymore. I do it badly. You’re all better than I am. It’s me who’s no good. Whoever’s willing to do it, go ahead!” Someone fellowships with them about the truth, but it doesn’t get through to them, and they don’t understand, saying: “What’s there to fellowship about in this? I don’t care if it is the truth or not—I’ll do my duty when I’m happy and won’t when I’m not. Why make it so complicated? I’m not doing it now; I’ll wait for a day when I’m happy.” This is how they are, consistently. Whether in performing their duty; reading God’s words, or listening to sermons and attending gatherings; or in their interactions with others—in everything that bears on any aspect of their life, what they reveal is cloudy one moment and sunny the next, elevated one moment and despondent the next, cold one moment and hot the next, negative one moment and positive the next. In brief, their state, good or bad, is always quite pronounced. You can see it at a glance. They’re inconsistent in everything they do, just giving themselves over to their temperament. When they’re happy, they do a better job, and when they’re not, they’re shoddy—they may even stop doing the thing and call it quits. Whatever they’re doing, they must do it according to their mood, according to the environment, according to their demands. They have no resolve at all to undergo hardship; they’re pampered and spoiled, hysterical, impervious to reason, and they do nothing to curb it. No one’s allowed to offend them; whoever does is a target for their temper, which comes on like a storm—and right after it passes, they’re negative and emotionally downcast. What’s more, they do everything based on their preferences. “If I like this job, I’ll do it; if I don’t, I won’t, and never will. Whichever of you is willing can do it. That has nothing to do with me.” What kind of person is this? When they’re happy and their state is good, they’re worked up at heart and say they want to love God. They’re so worked up that they cry, hot tears streaming down their face, loudly sobbing. Is theirs a heart that truly loves God? The state of loving God at heart is a normal one, but to look at their disposition, behaviors, and revelations, you’d think they were a child of ten or so years. This disposition of theirs, their way of living, is capriciousness. They’re inconsistent, not devoted, irresponsible, and feckless in everything they do. They never undergo hardship and are unwilling to take on responsibility. When they’re happy, they’re fine doing anything; a bit of hardship is fine, and if their interests suffer a blow, that’s fine, too. But if they’re unhappy, they won’t do anything. What sort of person are they? Is a state like that normal? (No.) This issue goes beyond that of an abnormal state—it’s a manifestation of extreme capriciousness, extreme foolishness and ignorance, extreme childishness. What’s the problem with capriciousness? Some may say, “It’s an instability of temperament. They’re too young and have been through too little hardship, and their personality isn’t set yet, so there’s often capriciousness in their behavior.” The fact is that capriciousness doesn’t care about age: Forty-somethings and septuagenarians are capricious at times, too. How’s this to be explained? Capriciousness is in fact a problem in one’s disposition, and an extremely serious one, at that! If they’re performing an important duty, it may delay that duty and the work’s progress, incurring losses to the interests of God’s house; and with ordinary duties, too, it affects those duties at times, and hinders things. There’s nothing about it that benefits others, themselves, or the work of the church. The little tasks they do and prices they pay come at a net loss. Particularly capricious people are unfit to perform duties in God’s house, and there are many such people. Capriciousness is the most common manifestation among corrupt dispositions. Practically every person has such a disposition. And what is that disposition? Naturally, every corrupt disposition is one variety of Satan’s dispositions, and capriciousness is a corrupt disposition. In mild terms, it’s not loving or accepting the truth; in weightier terms, it’s being averse to the truth and hating it. Can capricious people submit to God? Certainly not. They can momentarily, when they’re happy and profiting, but when they’re unhappy and not profiting, they fly into a rage and dare to resist and betray Him. They’ll say to themselves, “I don’t care whether it is the truth or not—what matters is that I’m happy, that I’m content. If I’m unhappy, nothing anyone says will help! What does the truth count for? What does god count for? I’m the boss!” What kind of corrupt disposition is this? (Hating the truth.) It’s a disposition that hates the truth, one that’s averse to it. Is there an element of arrogance and conceit to it? An element of intransigence? (Yes.) There’s another egregious state here. When they’re in a good mood, they’re nice to everyone and responsible in performing their duty; people think they’re a good, submissive person, one who’s willing to pay a price, who really loves the truth. But as soon as they get negative, they’ll give up their duty, complain, and even be impervious to reason. Here, their vicious side emerges. No one’s allowed to reproach them. They’ll even say, “I understand every truth, I just don’t practice it. It’ll do for me just to be at ease with myself!” What disposition is this? (Viciousness.) These evil people aren’t just ready to fight back against anyone who might prune them, they’d even hurt them and harm them, like an evil demon. No one would dare mess with them. Is this not highly capricious and vicious of them? Is this a youth-related problem? Would they not be capricious if they were older? Would they be more thoughtful and rational if they were older? No. This isn’t a matter of their personality or their age. There’s a deep-rooted corrupt disposition hiding in there. They’re governed by a corrupt disposition, and it’s by a corrupt disposition that they live. Is there submission in someone who lives in a corrupt disposition? Can they seek the truth? Is there a part of them that loves the truth? (No.) No, there’s none of those.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. What People Actually Live by

When facing a matter, if people are too willful and always insist on their own ideas without seeking the truth, this is very dangerous. God will spurn these people and set them aside. What will the consequence of this be? It can certainly be said that such people are in danger of being eliminated. However, those who seek the truth can receive the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and guidance, and as a result, they gain God’s blessing. The two different attitudes of seeking and not seeking the truth can bring about two different states in you and two different results. Which kind of result do you like? (I like to receive God’s enlightenment.) If people wish to be enlightened by God and guided by God, and to receive God’s grace, what kind of attitude must they have? They must often come before God with an attitude of seeking and submission. Whether you are doing your duty, interacting with others, or dealing with a particular issue that you are faced with, you must have an attitude of seeking and submission. With this kind of attitude, it can be said that you have something of a God-fearing heart. Being able to seek the truth and submit to the truth is the path to fearing God and shunning evil. If you lack an attitude of seeking and submission, and you instead insist on your own ideas, are stubbornly resistant, and you refuse to accept the truth and are averse to the truth, then you will naturally commit a great deal of evil. You won’t be able to help it! If you never seek the truth to resolve this, the ultimate consequence will be that no matter how much you experience, no matter how many situations you find yourself in, and no matter how many lessons God sets up for you, you won’t understand the truth, and you will ultimately remain incapable of entering into the truth reality. If you do not possess the truth reality, you will be incapable of following the way of God, and if you are never able to follow the way of God, then you are not a person who fears God and shuns evil. People always say that they want to do their duties and follow God. Are these simple things? Absolutely not. These things are enormously important in people’s lives! It isn’t easy to do one’s duty well to satisfy God, or to come to fear God and shun evil. But I will tell you a principle of practice: If you have an attitude of seeking and submission when something happens to you, this will protect you. The ultimate goal isn’t for you to be protected. It is to enable you to understand the truth, enter into the truth reality, and attain God’s salvation. This is the ultimate goal.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three

Those who truly believe in God are all individuals who attend to their proper work, they are all willing to perform their duties, capable of shouldering a piece of work and doing it well according to their caliber and the regulations of God’s house. Of course, at the beginning of doing work, you may not have a clear idea of what to do or cannot grasp the principles, and it may feel a bit exhausting. However, if you have the resolve to do your part, are willing to seek the truth principles, and can achieve harmonious cooperation with others, then your performance of duty will naturally yield results, and at the same time you will easily put the truth into practice and cast off your corrupt dispositions, and you will be up to standard in your performance of duty. So, you have to pay a bit of a price. When you have the urge to be willful, you must pray to God, beseeching Him to discipline you, and you must rebel against the flesh and restrain yourself, making your selfish desires gradually diminish. You must seek God’s help in crucial matters, at crucial times, and in crucial tasks. If you do have resolve, then you should ask God to chasten and discipline you, and to enlighten you so that you may understand the truth, that way you will get better results. If you genuinely have resolve, and you come before God to pray and appeal, God will enlighten you; He will change your state and your thoughts. If the Holy Spirit does a little work, moving and enlightening you a bit, your heart will change, and your state will be transformed. At this point, your repressive emotion will be somewhat alleviated, and your mental state will be different from before—you will feel that there is enjoyment in doing your duty in God’s house, that it’s not tiring to live this way, and you will also feel that enduring hardship, paying a price, and acting according to principles in doing your duty puts your heart at ease and at peace, that this is the kind of life a normal person ought to lead, and that being able to live by the truth and do your duty well makes life so meaningful. You will bitterly regret that you didn’t understand any truths before, and that you lived entirely by your satanic dispositions, acting recklessly and willfully—you’ll feel that it was so painful to have lived in such a way that you resembled neither a human nor a demon. You’ll realize that it’s all thanks to accepting Almighty God’s work of the last days that you’ve understood many truths and can cast off some corrupt dispositions, and can do your duty normally and enjoy God’s words, and undergo real changes day by day, and you’ll feel that living by God’s words truly brings peace and joy. Will your mood not then have changed? (Yes.) Once you can realize why your life felt repressive and miserable before, once you find the root of your affliction and resolve the problem, you will have hope of changing. … First of all, you need to learn to walk the right path and attend to your proper work, to shoulder the responsibilities and obligations that a normal person ought to, and then learn to abide by the rules, accept the management of God’s house, accept supervision and pruning, and come to do your duties well. This is the correct attitude that a person with a conscience and reason should have. Secondly, you must have a correct understanding and knowledge of the responsibilities and obligations that pertain to the conscience and reason of normal humanity. You should let go of the negative emotion of repression, and correctly face and handle the various difficulties that arise in your life. For you, these are not extra things, or burdens, or chains, but rather what you, as a normal adult, should bear. This means that every adult, regardless of their gender, their caliber, their level of ability, or the strengths they possess, should adapt to their living environment, shoulder their responsibilities, obligations, and mission, and shoulder the work that they ought to do. You should not shirk what you ought to bear, and you must accept whatever hardships you ought to undergo. You should accept these things in a positive manner instead of having others wait on you hand and foot, and freeloading off the fruits of others’ labor. In addition, you should learn to adapt to and accept various kinds of rules, regulations, and management, accept the administrative decrees of God’s house, and learn to adapt to surviving and living among a group of people. You must possess the conscience and reason of normal humanity, and be able to correctly approach the people, events, and things around you, and correctly handle and resolve the various problems that you encounter. These are all things that a person with normal humanity should deal with, it can also be said that this is the life and the living environment that an adult ought to face. For example, as an adult, you should rely on your own abilities to support and feed your family, regardless of how difficult your life may be. This is the hardship you should endure, the responsibility you should fulfill, and the obligation you should complete. You should shoulder the responsibilities that an adult ought to take on. No matter how much suffering you endure or how great of a price you pay, no matter how much bitterness you feel, you should swallow your grievances and you should not develop any negative emotions or complain about anyone, because this is what adults are supposed to bear. As an adult, you must shoulder these things—without complaining or resisting, and especially without evading or rejecting them. Drifting through life, being idle, doing things as you please, being willful or capricious, doing what you want to do and not doing what you don’t want to do—this is not the attitude in life that an adult should have. Every adult must shoulder an adult’s responsibilities, regardless of how much pressure they face, such as hardships, illnesses, and even various difficulties—these are things that everyone should experience and bear. They are a part of a normal person’s life. If you cannot bear pressure, endure suffering, or withstand blows, it means that you have no perseverance or resolve, and you are too fragile and useless. Everyone—whether in society or in God’s house—must bear this suffering in their lives. This is the responsibility every adult should bear, the burden they should shoulder, and no one can avoid it. Nor should you try to evade it. If you always want to escape or be free from all this suffering, then your repressive emotion will come out, and it will forever entangle you. However, if you can properly comprehend and accept all of this, and view it as a necessary part of your life and existence, then you will no longer develop negative emotions because of these issues. In one respect, you must learn to shoulder the responsibilities and obligations that adults ought to have and undertake. In another respect, you should learn to coexist harmoniously with others in your living and working environment with normal humanity. Do not simply do what you please. What is the purpose of harmonious coexistence? It is to better complete the work, obligations, and responsibilities that you, as an adult, ought to fulfill. No matter what work or what duty you do, when faced with danger, when faced with disturbances and damages of Satan’s forces, you must be able to minimize the losses, so that the results of your work and duty are better. This is what someone with resolve ought to achieve. If you possess normal humanity, you should accomplish this when doing work. As for work pressure, whether it comes from the Above or from God’s house, or if it is pressure put upon you by the brothers and sisters, it is something that you should bear. You cannot say, “I’m not going to do it because of the pressure. I am just seeking leisure, ease, happiness, and comfort in doing my duty and working in God’s house.” This will not do, and it is not a thought that a normal adult should possess, and God’s house is not a place for you to indulge in comfort. Every person takes on a certain amount of pressure and risk in their life and work. In any job, especially doing your duty in God’s house, you should strive for optimal results. On a larger scale, this is the teaching and requirement of God. On a smaller scale, it is the attitude, viewpoint, standard, and principle that every person should possess in their self-conduct and actions. When you do a duty in God’s house, you must learn to abide by the stipulations and systems of God’s house, and you must learn to comply with the rules, conducting yourself in a well-behaved manner. This is an essential part of one’s self-conduct. You should not be spending all of your time indulging yourself instead of working, not giving serious thought to anything, and idling away your days, or recklessly committing misdeeds, and pursuing your own way of living, like nonbelievers do. Do not make others despise you, do not become a nail in their eye or a thorn in their side, do not make everybody shun or reject you, and do not become an obstacle or a stumbling block to any piece of work. This is the conscience and reason that a normal adult should possess, and it is also the responsibility that any normal adult should bear.

—The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (5)

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