By Yin An, China

My grandfather was a person of great prestige in our village and he was always happy to help others. When I was young, he and my grandmother moved to the city, but, whenever someone in the village needed something, he would set aside his business and return to the village to help. Everyone said my grandfather was a good man and respected him greatly, and whenever he was mentioned, people would give a big thumbs-up. I felt proud to have such a grandfather. After my grandfather passed away, I often heard people talk about him, saying he was a man of good moral standing and reputation. Hearing this made me feel that my grandfather’s way of comporting himself was good and trustworthy, and that even after death, he had a good reputation. Later, whenever anyone asked me for help, I would actively help them, feeling that helping others in this way was good and made me a good person.

After finding God, I made videos in the church. Since I knew some things about computer technology, the brothers and sisters would come to me for help with their computer problems. I felt that helping brothers and sisters fix their computer issues was doing a good deed. Moreover, when brothers and sisters asked for my help, it meant they trusted me, and I’d wonder “If I don’t help, what will everyone think of me? Will they think I’m really selfish and lacking in humanity?” So as long as I could solve a problem, I didn’t refuse anyone. Sometimes, when I couldn’t solve the problem, I would rack my brains to search for information and then try to find a solution. But even though this would take up a lot of my time, and delay my main work, I still prioritized helping brothers and sisters with their computer issues. I felt that since I accepted their request, I needed to do a good job. After all, if I didn’t do it well, wouldn’t I lose my prestige? If that were to happen, who would trust me in the future? Gradually, I received praise from brothers and sisters, and everyone thought I had good humanity and was willing to help others. So I felt that the price I was paying was worth it.

Later, due to work requirements, I began to study a new kind of technology. The leader specifically instructed me, “You need to learn how to use this quickly and then teach everyone else. Otherwise, it will delay the brothers’ and sisters’ use of it and affect work efficiency.” While I was focusing on studying the new technology, Sister Xiaoxue’s computer suddenly displayed the blue screen of death and wouldn’t start, and she asked me to help check what the problem was. When I looked at the blue screen code, I found it was something I hadn’t seen before, and I didn’t know how to handle it, so I told her to send it off to be repaired. But she was worried about the repair taking too long and insisted I help her fix it, saying, “I’m leaving the computer with you; I’m sure that you’ll be able to fix it.” I saw how much trust she had in me, and I thought, “If I refuse again, what will she think of me?” I couldn’t bear to refuse, so I agreed. For the next two days, I stayed home searching for information online, racking my brains to figure out how to fix the computer. I tried several methods and finally managed to fix it. The sister was very happy to see the computer fixed, and I felt delighted, thinking that the hard work over these two days had finally paid off, but I also felt a bit melancholy, thinking, “I’ve helped others solve their problems, but I haven’t gotten to grips with the technology I needed to study. But who asked me to make these promises to others? I’ll just pay a bit more of a price and stay up late to study.” After that, whenever brothers and sisters had computer problems, they would call me to solve them, and I’d feel too embarrassed to refuse. I’d spend a lot of time on this, which delayed my main work. I thought about suggesting to the brothers and sisters that if their equipment had problems, they should send it elsewhere for repair first, and that I would handle these things again after I got through this busy period. But when the brothers and sisters called me for help again, I found myself involuntarily going to help. Although I spent my days as busy as a bee, hearing everyone’s praise afterward made me feel that the effort was worth it. Because I was busy helping others repair computer equipment every day, my study plans were put on hold. The supervisor asked me how my learning was going, and fellowshipped with me, urging me to learn more about the technology and teach it to the brothers and sisters as soon as possible. I knew that this work was urgent, and that not learning it would affect the effectiveness and progress of the video work. But then I thought, “If I refuse to help when the brothers and sisters ask, will they think I’m selfish and unloving?” During that time, I was trying hard to learn technical skills, while also helping brothers and sisters solve computer problems, and I felt that there were never enough hours in my days and was very tired, but I didn’t know how to practice.

Later, when I read God’s words, I realized the incorrect viewpoints on what to pursue within me. Almighty God says: “From the moment people begin to speak, they learn all kinds of sayings from people, from disbelievers, from Satan, and from the world. It starts with the initial education in which people are taught by their parents and families about how to comport themselves, what to say, what morals to possess, what kind of thoughts and character to have, and so on. Even after entering society, individuals still unconsciously accept indoctrination of various doctrines and theories from Satan. ‘Do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you’ is instilled in every person by family or society as one of the moral conducts that people must possess. If you possess this moral conduct, people say you are noble, honorable, have integrity, and that you are esteemed and highly regarded by society. Since the phrase ‘Do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you’ comes from people and from Satan, it becomes the object we dissect and discern, and further still the object we forsake. Why do we discern and forsake this phrase? Let’s first examine whether this phrase is correct and whether a person who follows it is right. Is it truly noble to be a person who possesses the moral character to ‘do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you’? Does such a person possess the truth reality? Do they have the humanity and principles of conduct that God said created beings should have? Do you all understand the phrase ‘Do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you’? First explain in your own words what this phrase means. (It means that when someone entrusts you with a task, you should spare no effort in getting it done.) Shouldn’t this be the case? If someone entrusts you with a task, don’t they think highly of you? They think highly of you, believe in you, and think you are trustworthy. So, no matter what other people ask you to do, you should agree and do it well and completely according to their requirements, so they are happy and satisfied. In doing so, you are a good person. The implication is that whether the person who entrusted you with a task is satisfied determines whether you are considered a good person. Can it be explained in this way? (Yes.) So isn’t it easy to be seen as a good person in the eyes of others and recognized by society? (Yes.) What does it mean that it is ‘easy’? It means that the standard is very low and not at all noble. If you meet the moral standard of ‘Do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you,’ you are considered a person with moral conduct in such matters. Implicitly, it means that you are deserving of people’s confidence, their entrustment of handling tasks, that you are a reputable person, and that you are a good person” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. What It Means to Pursue the Truth (14)). Reflecting on God’s words, I came to understand that I wasn’t comporting myself or acting according to God’s words, but rather by the traditional ideas instilled by Satan, such as “Do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you.” Although my parents didn’t explicitly instill this idea in me, I observed from a young age how my grandfather took great care in handling matters entrusted to him by others, and that no matter how difficult or time-consuming they were, he would get them done, ultimately earning the respect of those around him, and even being remembered fondly after his death. I thought this was the right way to comport oneself, that I could earn people’s admiration this way, and that I could be someone with dignity and integrity. Subconsciously, through constant exposure to this idea, I began to pursue becoming such a person myself. Ever since the brothers and sisters knew I had some skills in repairing computers, they would come to me for help whenever there were problems. I never turned anyone down, and as a result, I received some positive evaluations. This made me feel even more strongly that this was the right way to comport myself. When brothers and sisters came to me again with problems, even if I hadn’t finished my own duties, I would still help them. I thought that they were asking for my help because they trusted me, and felt that if I didn’t fix the computers for them, wouldn’t I be letting them down? To make sure the brothers and sisters spoke well of me, and to be someone who, in their eyes, was loving and had good humanity, I would meet everyone’s requests, no matter how difficult, preferring to lose some rest or even delay my primary work, just to complete the tasks others had entrusted to me. I was living by the so-called virtue of “Do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you,” doing things without principles, and failing to prioritize tasks. I only pursued being seen as a trustworthy and good person in people’s eyes, which resulted in me not learning the video-making skills I should have learned, and delaying my primary work. I saw that my thinking and views had been corrupted and twisted by Satan, and I didn’t even know what a truly good person was.

Later, I read more of God’s words, and understood what responsibilities and obligations a created being should fulfill. God says: “There is another aspect to the moral statement of ‘Do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you’ that needs to be discerned. If the task entrusted to you doesn’t consume too much of your time and energy, and is within the range of your caliber, or if you have the right environment and conditions, then out of human conscience and reason, you can do some things for others to the best of your ability and meet their reasonable and appropriate demands. However, if the task entrusted to you takes up a significant amount of your time and energy, and takes away much of your time, to the extent that it makes you sacrifice your life, and your responsibilities and obligations in this life and your duties as a created being will be reduced to nothing and will be replaced, then what will you do? You should refuse because it is not your responsibility or obligation. As for the responsibilities and obligations of a person’s life, other than taking care of parents and raising children, and fulfilling social responsibilities in society and under the framework of the law, the most important thing is that a person’s energy and time, and life should be spent on doing the duty of a created being, rather than being entrusted with a task by anyone else, taking up their time and energy. This is because God creates a person, grants them life, and brings them into this world, and it is not for them to do things and fulfill responsibilities for others. What people should accept most is God’s entrustment. Only God’s entrustment is a genuine entrustment, and accepting man’s entrustment is to not attend to their proper duties” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. What It Means to Pursue the Truth (14)). From God’s words, I understood that helping brothers and sisters isn’t wrong, and that this is the love that a person with normal humanity should have. However, expending time and energy to help others in an unprincipled way, not considering the church work, and delaying my duties, this kind of help is inappropriate and I should refuse to engage in it. God has ordained my birth in the last days, and I have my own mission and duties to fulfill. If I delay my duties to complete tasks entrusted by others, then I would be neglecting my proper work. Considering that the leadership arranged for me to study new technology, I should have learned it in the shortest time possible, which would improve the efficiency of video production for everyone. However, when others had equipment problems and asked me for help, even though I knew that repairing the equipment would consume a lot of time and energy and delay my primary work, I still set aside my own work to help them, just to leave them with a good impression of me, which delayed my research into the video production technology. I realized that my approach lacked principles, that I didn’t know which tasks to refuse and which to help with, and was blindly following Satan’s philosophy. As a result, I was spending my days occupying and exhausting myself, even sacrificing time for devotionals and eating and drinking God’s words, and my primary work was also delayed. Now I understood that I must prioritize my own duties at all times. This is what God requires of me. If I delay my duties to gain others’ admiration or to complete tasks entrusted to me by others, this is neglecting my proper work and not in line with God’s intention.

Later, I read more of God’s word and gained some discernment of the virtue of “Do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you.” God says: “In this human society, every individual has a transactional mindset, and everyone engages in transactions. Everyone makes demands of others and they all want to profit at other people’s expense without suffering any losses themselves. Some people say, ‘Among those who “do their best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to them,” there are also many who do not seek to profit at other people’s expense. They simply aim to do their best to handle things well, these people truly possess this moral conduct.’ This statement is incorrect. Even if they don’t seek wealth, material possessions, or any kind of benefit, they do seek renown. What is this ‘renown’? It means, ‘I have accepted people’s trust to handle their tasks. Regardless of whether the person who entrusted me is present or not, as long as I do my best to handle it well, I will have a good reputation. At least some people will know that I am a good person, a person of high moral character, and someone worth emulating. I can occupy a place among people and leave behind a good reputation in a group of people. It’s worth it too!’ Other people say, ‘“Do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you,” and since people have entrusted us, whether they are present or not, we should handle their tasks well and stick with it to the end. Even if we cannot leave a lasting legacy, at least they can’t criticize us behind our backs by saying that we have no credibility. We can’t let future generations be discriminated against and suffer this kind of gross injustice.’ What are they seeking? They’re still seeking renown. Some people attach great importance to wealth and possessions, while others value renown. What does ‘renown’ mean? What are specific expressions for ‘renown’ among people? It’s being called a good person and someone of high moral character, a paragon, a virtuous person, or a saint. There are even some people who, because for one matter they succeeded in ‘doing their best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to them’ and have this kind of moral character, are perpetually praised, and their descendants benefit from their renown. You see, this is much more valuable than the little benefits they can currently get. Therefore, the starting point for anyone who abides by the so-called moral standard to ‘do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you’ is not that simple. They are not just seeking to fulfill their obligations and responsibilities as individuals, but rather they abide by it either for personal gain or reputation, either for this life or the next life. Of course, there are also those who wish to avoid being criticized behind their back and to avoid infamy. In short, the starting point for people to do this kind of thing is not simple, it is not really a starting point from the perspective of humanity, nor is it a starting point from the social responsibility of mankind. Looking at it from the intention and starting point of people doing such things, people who hold on to the phrase ‘Do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you’ do not have an uncomplicated purpose at all” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. What It Means to Pursue the Truth (14)). From God’s words, I realized that people live by the traditional idea “Do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you” but behind their backs, people hide personal intentions. For example, when I was helping brothers and sisters repair computers, even though I didn’t expect to gain any material benefits from them, I wanted to receive good evaluations from them, and to have a good image in their hearts. Therefore, I was willing to sacrifice my time and energy to complete tasks they entrusted to me, so that they would see me as trustworthy and reliable. I thought of my grandfather. He lived his life based on the virtue of “Do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you.” He was afraid that after moving to the city, he would be criticized by others as looking down on the villagers, so no matter what issues the villagers had, he always tried his best to help them. This earned him a good reputation, and everyone thought of him as a benevolent and good person. I was deeply influenced by my grandfather, and I also lived by the traditional idea of “Do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you.” When people I knew around me faced difficulties, as long as they came to me, I would go all out to help them, out of fear that they might speak poorly of me. When brothers and sisters had computer problems and asked for my help, I didn’t consider my own duties or the relative urgency of tasks, and to avoid losing their trust, I would set aside my own duties, and help them in a way that lacked principles, which led to delays in church work. Now I understood that being able to “do your best to faithfully handle whatever other people have entrusted to you” doesn’t mean being a person with true humanity or noble character. It’s just a means to win people’s favor, to use helping others as a way to gain praise and leave a good reputation. My pursuit of this was truly misleading and hypocritical! I couldn’t live according to this traditional idea any longer. I had to act and comport myself according to God’s words. One should be loyal to God and to one’s own duties. Fulfilling the duties of a created being is my mission and responsibility. Later, when faced with similar situations, I consciously practiced according to God’s words.

Once, a sister bought a new computer and wanted me to help her reinstall the system. When I saw that the computer was the latest model and that I hadn’t installed it before, and that it lacked some drivers, I realized that agreeing to help would mean spending time and effort looking up information. I felt conflicted, thinking, “If I refuse to help the sister, will she think that I’m unwilling to help her and lose the good impression she has of me?” But then I considered that I had some urgent work to handle, which required time and effort to be expended on research, and that helping the sister set up the computer would delay my work. At this point, I realized that I was once again considering others’ views of me. So I prayed to God, not wanting to delay the work for the sake of fame and gain. Afterward, I read more of God’s words: “If someone entrusts you with a task, what should you do? If the task entrusted to you is something that only requires very slight effort, where you only need to simply speak or perform a small action, and you have the requisite caliber, you can help out of your humanity and compassion; this is not considered wrong. This is a principle. However, if the task entrusted to you will consume a significant amount of your time and energy, or even waste a considerable portion of your time, you have the right to refuse. Even if it is your parents, you have the right to decline. There is no need to be faithful to them or accept their entrustment, this is your right. Where does this right come from? It is bestowed upon you by God. This is the second principle. The third principle is that if someone entrusts you with some task, even if it doesn’t consume a significant amount of time and energy, but it can disturb or affect your performance of duty, or destroy your will to perform your duty as well as your faithfulness to God, you should also refuse it. If someone entrusts you with something that can affect your pursuit of the truth, disrupt and disturb your will to pursue the truth and your pace in the pursuit of the truth, and make you give up halfway, then you should refuse it even more. You should refuse anything that affects your performance of duty or your pursuit of truth. This is your right; you have the right to say ‘no.’ There is no need for you to invest your time and energy. You can refuse all things that hold no meaning, value, edification, help, or benefit to your performance of duty, pursuit of the truth, or your salvation. Can this be considered a principle? Yes, this is a principle” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. What It Means to Pursue the Truth (14)). God fellowshipped three principles on how we should handle tasks entrusted to us by others, which provided me with a path of practice. If the sister’s computer issue wasn’t complex and was a simple task, I could help her, as this is the love that should exist between brothers and sisters. But if her problem couldn’t be resolved quickly, and would require me to set aside my duties and expend time and effort to solve, then I must weigh the pros and cons and first consider my own duties, and if it would delay my work progress, then I couldn’t agree to help. I couldn’t carry on as before, accepting every request regardless of its importance just to gain people’s praise, without considering my own responsibilities and obligations. This would delay church work. Being loyal to God’s commission and fulfilling my own duties is the most crucial. Judging by God’s words, helping the sister reset her computer would take up my time and energy, and would delay my duties, and also, the sister didn’t need this done urgently, so I turned her down and told her I would help set up her computer when I had time. When I practiced according to God’s words, without considering my own interests or protecting my image in others’ eyes, I felt liberated, at ease, and broad-hearted.

Through this experience, I realized that seeking the truth and practicing according to principles in everything is the way to go. I have to accept my duties without shirking them and put my best effort into doing them, as this is my responsibility and obligation. However, for tasks entrusted to me by others, I should evaluate whether they align with principles and whether they will delay my duties. I shouldn’t adulterate my interests and live by Satan’s philosophies. This is in line with these words of God: “To view people and things, and to comport oneself and act, wholly according to God’s words, with the truth as one’s criterion” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. What It Means to Pursue the Truth (2)).