There are some people who can bear hardships; they can pay the price; their outward behavior is very good; they are well respected; and they have the admiration of others. What do you think: Can this kind of outward behavior be regarded as putting truth into practice? Can you say that this person is satisfying God’s intentions? Why is it that time and time again people see this kind of individual and think that they are satisfying God, think that they are walking the path of putting truth into practice, that they are walking in God’s way? Why do some people think this way? There’s only one explanation for it.
And what explanation is that? It’s that for a great many people, questions like what it is to put truth into practice, what it is to satisfy God, what it is to really have the reality of the truth—these questions aren’t very clear. So there are some people who are often deceived by those who outwardly seem spiritual, seem noble, seem to have lofty images. As for those people who can speak of letters and doctrines, and whose speech and actions appear worthy of admiration, their admirers have never looked at the essence of their actions, the principles behind their deeds, what their goals are. And they have never looked at whether these people truly obey God, and whether or not they are someone who truly fears God and shuns evil. They have never discerned the substance of the humanity of these people. Rather, from the first step of getting acquainted, bit by bit, they come to admire these people, venerate these people, and in the end these people become their idols. Moreover, in some people’s minds, the idols who they worship, who they believe can abandon their families and jobs, and pay the price on the surface—these idols are the ones who are really satisfying God, the ones who can really receive a good outcome and a good destination. In their minds, these idols are the people who God praises. What causes people to have this kind of belief? What’s the essence of this issue? What are the consequences it can lead to? Let’s first discuss the matter of its essence.
These issues regarding people’s viewpoints, people’s practices, which principles people choose to practice, and what everyone normally emphasizes, essentially these all have nothing to do with God’s demands on mankind. Regardless of whether people are focusing on shallow matters or deep ones, on letters and doctrines or reality, people don’t adhere to that which they should adhere to most, and they don’t know that which they should know the most. The reason for this is that people don’t like the truth at all. Therefore, people aren’t willing to put time and effort into finding and practicing principles in God’s word. Instead, they prefer to use shortcuts, and sum up what they understand, what they know, to be good practice and good behavior. This summary then becomes their own goal to pursue, becomes truth to be practiced. The direct consequence of this is people using human good behavior as a substitute for putting truth into practice, which also satisfies people’s desire to curry favor with God. This gives people capital with which to contend with the truth, and to reason with and dispute God. At the same time, people also unscrupulously put God aside, and place their heart’s idol in God’s position. There is only one root cause which makes people have these ignorant actions, ignorant viewpoints, or one-sided viewpoints and practices, and today I’ll tell you about it. The reason is that although people may follow God, pray to Him every day, and read the word of God every day, they don’t actually understand God’s will. This is the root of the problem. If someone understands God’s heart, understands what God likes, what God loathes, what God wants, what God rejects, what kind of person God loves, what kind of person God dislikes, what kind of standard God applies to His demands on man, what kind of approach He takes for perfecting man, can that person still have their own personal ideas? Can they just go and worship another person? Could an ordinary person become their idol? If one understands God’s will, their viewpoint is a bit more rational than that. They aren’t going to arbitrarily idolize a corrupted person, nor will they, while walking the path of putting truth into practice, believe that arbitrarily adhering to a few simple rules or principles is tantamount to putting truth into practice.
from “How to Know God’s Disposition and the Result of His Work”
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