I’m a new believer; I’ve just accepted God’s new work. Since I usually have to work and I’m also busy with housework, I don’t have much time to read God’s words. I’m concerned that the time I have for my faith is too short and that I’m not equipped with the truth. Once God’s work comes to an end, if I still haven’t achieved dispositional change, will God cast me aside?

March 29, 2021

Bible Verses for Reference:

“For the kingdom of heaven is like to a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, And said to them; Go you also into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and said to them, Why stand you here all the day idle? They say to him, Because no man has hired us. He said to them, Go you also into the vineyard; and whatever is right, that shall you receive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last to the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny” (Matthew 20:1–10).

“The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12).

Relevant Words of God:

I decide the destination of each person not on the basis of age, seniority, amount of suffering, and least of all, the degree to which they invite pity, but according to whether they possess the truth. There is no other choice but this. You must realize that all those who do not follow the will of God shall also be punished. This is an immutable fact. Therefore, all those who are punished are so punished for the righteousness of God and as retribution for their numerous evil acts.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Prepare Sufficient Good Deeds for Your Destination

God’s wish is for every person to be made perfect, to be ultimately gained by Him, to be completely cleansed by Him, and to become people He loves. It matters not whether I say you are backward or of poor caliber—this is all fact. My saying this does not prove that I intend to forsake you, that I have lost hope in you, much less that I am unwilling to save you. Today I have come to do the work of your salvation, which is to say that the work I do is a continuation of the work of salvation. Every person has the chance to be made perfect: Provided that you are willing, provided that you pursue, in the end you will be able to achieve this result, and not one of you will be forsaken. If you are of poor caliber, My requirements of you will be in accordance with your poor caliber; if you are of high caliber, My requirements of you will be in accordance with your high caliber; if you are ignorant and illiterate, My requirements of you will be in accordance with your illiteracy; if you are literate, My requirements of you will be in accordance with the fact that you are literate; if you are elderly, My requirements of you will be in accordance with your age; if you are capable of providing hospitality, My requirements of you will be in accordance with this capability; if you say you cannot offer hospitality, and can only perform a certain function, whether it be spreading the gospel, or taking care of the church, or attending to other general affairs, My perfection of you will be in accordance with the function that you perform. Being loyal, obeying to the very end, and seeking to have supreme love for God—this is what you must accomplish, and there are no better practices than these three things. Ultimately, man is required to achieve these three things, and if he can achieve them, then he will be made perfect. But, above all, you must truly pursue, you must actively press onward and upward, and not be passive in that regard. I have said that every person has the chance to be made perfect and is capable of being made perfect, and this holds true, but you do not try to be better in your pursuit. If you do not achieve these three criteria, then in the end you must be eliminated. I want everyone to catch up, I want everyone to have the work and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and be able to obey to the very end, because this is the duty that each of you should perform. When you have all performed your duty, you will all have been made perfect, you will also have resounding testimony. All those who have testimony are those who have been victorious over Satan and gained God’s promise, and they are the ones who will remain to live in the wonderful destination.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Restoring the Normal Life of Man and Taking Him to a Wonderful Destination

In your faith, does how many years you have believed in God matter to whether or not you are praised by Him? Do the rituals and regulations you abide by matter? Does God look at people’s methods of practice? Does He look at how many people there are? He has selected one portion of mankind; how does He measure whether they can and should be saved? He bases this decision on the paths these people walk. In the Age of Grace, although the truths that God told people were less numerous than today, and not as specific, He could still perfect people at the time, and salvation was still possible. Thus, as for the people of this age who have heard many truths and have come to understand God’s will, if they are incapable of following His way and unable to walk the path of salvation, then what will their final outcome be? Their final outcome will be the same as that of believers in Christianity and Judaism; there will be no difference. This is God’s righteous disposition!

—“Only by Constantly Living Before God Can One Walk the Path to Salvation” in Records of Christ’s Talks

Man must pursue to live out a life of meaning, and should not be satisfied with his current circumstances. To live out the image of Peter, he must possess the knowledge and experiences of Peter. Man must pursue things that are higher and more profound. He must pursue a deeper, purer love of God, and a life that has value and meaning. Only this is life; only then will man be the same as Peter. You must focus on being proactive toward your entry on the positive side, and must not submissively allow yourself to backslide for the sake of momentary ease while ignoring more profound, more specific, and more practical truths. Your love must be practical, and you must find ways to free yourself from this depraved, carefree life that is no different from an animal’s. You must live out a life of meaning, a life of value, and you must not fool yourself or treat your life like a toy to be played with. For everyone who aspires to love God, there are no unobtainable truths and no justice for which they cannot stand firm. How should you live your life? How should you love God, and use this love to satisfy His desire? There is no greater matter in your life. Above all, you must have such aspirations and perseverance, and should not be like those who are spineless, those who are weaklings. You must learn how to experience a meaningful life and experience meaningful truths, and should not treat yourself perfunctorily in that way. Without you realizing it, your life will pass you by; after that, will you have another opportunity to love God? Can man love God after he is dead? You must have the same aspirations and conscience as Peter; your life must be meaningful, and you must not play games with yourself. As a human being, and as a person who pursues God, you must be able to carefully consider how you treat your life, how you should offer yourself to God, how you should have a more meaningful faith in God, and how, since you love God, you should love Him in a way that is more pure, more beautiful, and more good. Today, you cannot only be content with how you are conquered, but must also consider the path that you will walk in the future. You must have aspirations and the courage to be made perfect, and should not always think yourself incapable. Does the truth have favorites? Can the truth deliberately oppose people? If you pursue the truth, can it overwhelm you? If you stand firm for justice, will it knock you down? If it is truly your aspiration to pursue life, can life elude you? If you are without the truth, that is not because the truth ignores you, but because you stay away from the truth; if you cannot stand fast for justice, that is not because there is something wrong with justice, but because you believe it is out of line with the facts; if you have not gained life after pursuing it for many years, that is not because life has no conscience toward you, but because you have no conscience toward life, and have driven away life; if you live in the light, and have been incapable of gaining the light, that is not because the light is unable to illuminate you, but because you have not paid any attention to the existence of the light, and so the light has quietly departed from you.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment

Sermon and Fellowship Excerpts for Reference:

“I am impartial toward all men, and judge all men with My righteous disposition, yet there are suitable conditions to the requirements I make of man, and that which I require must be accomplished by all men, regardless of who they are. I care not how your qualifications are, or how long you have held them; I care only whether you walk in My way, and whether or not you love and thirst for the truth” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment). Walking in God’s way is really critical; what are the manifestations of this? Those who have principles in all things are those who walk in God’s way; those who are able to practice according to the truth in God’s words are those who walk in God’s way. You can’t lack a basis for your actions; with the truth as your basis, that is walking in God’s way, but without a truth as your basis, just acting blindly based on human will is not walking in God’s way. That is upholding Satan’s lies. Walking in God’s way is really important and in the end will gain His approval. On top of that, whether or not you’re someone who loves and longs for the truth is also critical. Some people say: “It’s good enough to be someone who walks in the true way—God will approve of that. What is this here about being someone who loves and longs for the truth?” Those words are so important. If you don’t include this meaning into the meaning of what was just mentioned, then you’re lacking something else. What’s the crux of this? It’s that you haven’t reached the stature of being able to walk in God’s way, but you are someone who loves and longs for the truth; you are able to pursue the truth, this is something that gains God’s approval, and you’ll be an object of God’s salvation. You understand this, right? Take salvation, for example. Could those who attain salvation all be of the same stature? Certainly not. There are some who have believed for ten years, some for five, some for one, so if you say that those who have believed for ten years and understand the truth can be saved while those who have believed for nine years or less who don’t entirely understand the truth will be eliminated, does that stand to reason? It doesn’t. God is righteous and doesn’t show favoritism toward anyone. If there’s someone who comes to believe in God on the very last day who doesn’t possess the necessary conditions to walk in God’s way but they are someone who longs for the truth, that’s good enough—it counts. Anyone who longs for the truth can be blessed. Which prophecy from Jesus does this fulfill? In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, the last worker to go into the vineyard who did just an hour of work was given the same pay for his work by God—this was God’s grace. Those who had worked for ten hours were somewhat jealous, saying, “How could he just do one hour of work?” What was the Lord’s response? “I haven’t mistreated you, so why do you complain? This is My grace for him.” That was the gist of it. There are some people that God particularly graces, but what are the conditions? They must be people who long for the truth. Someone who doesn’t pursue the truth can believe in God for a hundred years, but someone who longs for the truth believes in Him for one year; which one will attain salvation? The one who believed in God for one year. What does this mean? There is a certain condition to God’s salvation. What is it? Longing for the truth. To put it another way, longing for the truth is loving the truth, and only those who truly love the truth are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness must be sated because they have God’s blessing and the work of the Holy Spirit. So the first thing here is, “I care only whether you walk in My way,” and the second thing is “whether or not you love and thirst for the truth.” Those who pursue the truth receive God’s blessing, and even if His work is coming to an end and that person hasn’t grown in stature, they can still gain salvation from God. If they are not someone who pursues the truth, even if they’ve believed for ten years, twenty years, or even a hundred years, they will not attain salvation. If they have a bit of humanity and are qualified to do service, if they can render service until the end, they can remain as a devout service-doer, that is also by the grace of God. That’s really not bad, but that person must also possess some humanity. In their service they can’t just muddle through. Fruit must be borne of their service; it must be passable for God’s chosen people, and if they do service until the very end they will receive God’s grace and will survive; they will not die. This is how God doesn’t favor anyone. This is entirely true.

—Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life