By Yihan, China

In December 2021, I started practicing video inspections. In the beginning, I studied and pondered with all my heart. Whenever I ran into something confusing, I sought solutions from the sister collaborating with me. She also often discussed with me the issues she identified in the videos. I would summarize my shortcomings and deviations each time, then try to search and learn the relevant principles. During the team discussions on principles, I would listen carefully to everyone’s fellowship and ponder carefully to make up for my deficiencies. After practicing like this for some time, I made some progress in my specialist skills and was able to handle some tasks. I started feeling content, thinking I had grasped some principles. From then on, I rarely took the initiative to study. When fellowshipping principles and discussing issues with other team members, I no longer pondered in earnest as before, nor did I focus on summarizing the problems in the work. My approach to doing my duty became passive.

I remember that during a certain period, some brothers and sisters were new to their duties, and there were many issues with the videos they submitted. I needed to fellowship with them and reply to them one by one to address these issues. Some devious thoughts emerged in my heart: “If I carefully check each video and seek the relevant principles to fellowship with them and reply to them, it will take a lot of time and effort. When can I finish processing so many videos? Maybe I should just point out their issues briefly and let them figure out how to solve the problems themselves. This way, I can save a lot of effort.” So, I merely pointed out the problems in the videos and indicated the general direction for making modifications. Another time, I inspected a video and discovered some issues in it. But I wasn’t sure about them, so I had a discussion with the sister collaborating with me. She said she didn’t see any problems, but I still felt uneasy about it. After pondering for a while, I still wasn’t certain whether they were problems. Then I considered being perfunctory, thinking, “Maybe I should just leave it as is. The sister grasps the principles better than I do. Even she says it’s fine, so there shouldn’t be any problems. I don’t need to spend more time pondering on it. Besides, it’s just my feeling. What if I’m wrong about it and delay the work?” With that thought, I stopped mulling on it and seeking the answer. Then I just submitted the video as it was. A few days later, our supervisor pointed out that there were some issues with the video and that they needed to be fixed. Subsequently, my brothers and sisters reported one after another that they felt negative after reading our suggestions. They thought that there were too many problems in the videos they had made, and they didn’t know how to resolve them. Faced with these exposed issues, I felt completely at a loss. However, I remembered that the people, events, and things I encounter every day are arranged by God and under His sovereignty. Encountering these circumstances was not without a reason. There must be lessons for me to learn, so I prayed to God and sought His guidance.

During a devotional, I read these passages of God’s words: “It is something within a corrupt disposition to handle things so flippantly and irresponsibly: It is scumminess people often refer to. In all matters they do, they do it to the point of ‘that’s about right’ and ‘close enough’; it is an attitude of ‘maybe,’ ‘possibly,’ and ‘four-out-of-five’; they do things perfunctorily, are satisfied to do the minimum, and are satisfied with bluffing their way through; they see no point in taking things seriously or being meticulous, and they see less point in seeking the truth principles. Is this not something within a corrupt disposition? Is it a manifestation of normal humanity? It is not. To call it arrogance is right, and to call it dissolute is also entirely apt—but to capture it perfectly, the only word that will do is ‘scummy.’ Most people have scumminess within them, just to different degrees. In all matters, they wish to do things in a perfunctory and slipshod manner, and there is a whiff of deceit in everything they do. They cheat others when they can, cut corners when they are able, save time when they can. They think to themselves, ‘So long as I avoid being revealed, and cause no problems, and am not called to account, then I can muddle through this. I don’t have to do a very good job, that’s too much trouble!’ Such people learn nothing to mastery, and they do not apply themselves or suffer and pay a price in their studies. They want only to scratch the surface of a subject and then call themselves proficient at it, believing they have learned all there is to know, and then rely on this to muddle their way through. Is this not an attitude people have toward other people, events, and things? Is it a good attitude? It is not. Simply put, it is to ‘muddle through.’ Such scumminess exists in all of corrupt mankind. People with scumminess in their humanity take the view and attitude of ‘muddling through’ on anything they do. Are such people able to do their duty properly? No. Are they able to do things with principle? Even more unlikely” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item Eight: They Would Have Others Submit Only to Them, Not the Truth or God (Part Two)). “How can one tell the difference between noble and base people? Simply look at their attitude and actions toward duties, and look at how they treat things and behave when issues arise. People with integrity and dignity are meticulous, conscientious, and diligent in their actions, and they are willing to pay a price. People without integrity and dignity are careless and slipshod in their actions, always up to some trick, always wanting to just muddle through. No matter what technique they study, they do not learn it diligently, they are unable to learn it, and no matter how much time they spend studying it, they remain utterly ignorant. These are people of low character” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item Eight: They Would Have Others Submit Only to Them, Not the Truth or God (Part Two)). “They cheat others when they can,” “without integrity and dignity,” and “low character”—every single word in those sentences pierced my heart. I reflected on my behavior in doing my duty. Wasn’t my performance exactly as God had exposed? When I had noticed that there were many issues with the videos made by the brothers and sisters, I hadn’t pondered how to help them resolve these issues, or guided them to understand the truth and enter into the principles. Instead, my primary consideration had been how to save myself some effort. I had thought that if I carefully checked each video and responded in detail, it would be too troublesome and require a lot of thought. So, I had just briefly mentioned the problems in the videos, but hadn’t fellowshipped with them about the principles or pointed out practical solutions. As a result, the brothers and sisters had felt negative after reading my suggestions. Had I not caused disruption by doing this? When inspecting that other video, I’d had a sense that there were some issues with it, but I didn’t want to ponder on them diligently because I wasn’t sure. I had even made excuses for myself, thinking that pondering might not necessarily lead to any results. The sister grasped the principles better than I did. Even she said it was fine, so there shouldn’t be any major problems. I hadn’t truly put in the effort to seek the answer before concluding that pondering might not lead to any results. Hadn’t I just been slippery and slacked off? I truly had been so deceitful! This attitude toward my duty was just as God had exposed: “So long as I avoid being revealed, and cause no problems, and am not called to account, then I can muddle through this. I don’t have to do a very good job, that’s too much trouble!” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item Eight: They Would Have Others Submit Only to Them, Not the Truth or God (Part Two)). Those words described me perfectly. I had gone through each day on autopilot. I had been content with avoiding physical hardship and just getting by. I had never considered the difficulties of my brothers and sisters or whether doing my duty this way was effective. If I could muddle through something, I just muddled through it, showing no loyalty to my duty. With such an attitude, I had been utterly untrustworthy, just as God describes, “without integrity and dignity,” and “people of low character.” This was not an exaggeration at all. I felt deeply distressed and remorseful, so I prayed to God, “Oh God, my attitude toward my duty is too flippant and completely irresponsible. I don’t want to live this lowly life anymore. I am willing to rebel against my flesh, be diligent and earnest, and pay a price to do my duty well.”

After praying, I read some words of God and gained a better understanding of His requirements. God says: “When doing a duty, one must learn to be conscientious, rigorous, meticulous, and responsible, and to do it in a firmly grounded manner, that is, by planting one foot ahead of the other. One must exert all their strength to do that duty well, until they are satisfied with how they have performed it. If one does not understand the truth, they should seek the principles, and act according to them and to God’s requirements; they should willingly exert more effort to do their duty well, and never do it in a perfunctory manner. Only by practicing this way can one feel peace in their heart, without their conscience reproaching them” (The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (5)). God requires us to be firmly grounded in our duties, maintaining a conscientious and responsible attitude in everything we do, seeking the truth principles, and doing our best. I realized I could no longer be perfunctory. I needed to put God’s requirements into practice, carefully inspecting each video and providing detailed, principle-based guidance on the issues. Although this would require a bit more physical suffering and thinking, if it led to better results in my duty, then it was worth it. Thereafter, as I continued to inspect and respond to my brothers and sisters’ issues, I pondered how to express myself to achieve the best results. By implementing this approach, I didn’t feel very tired, and I was able to enter more deeply into the principles. However, due to my severely corrupt disposition and excessive desire for physical comfort, I still felt tempted to take the easy way out and be perfunctory when faced with complex problems.

Once, while inspecting a video, I noticed some contained issues that were challenging to address. I thought, “If I make suggestions, I need to study and research first to find a breakthrough. That will be troublesome. Just thinking about it gives me a headache! If I spend all that time on it and still can’t figure it out, wouldn’t it be a waste of effort? Forget it. I’ll focus on other videos for now and deal with these later when I have time.” After some time, our leaders noticed a decline in the effectiveness of our video work, and rechecked the videos submitted by the brothers and sisters over the past three months. They found that quite a few videos had been left unaddressed, and that we didn’t handle them promptly or provide guidance for the brothers and sisters to modify them according to the principles, causing significant delays to the video work. Seeing this result, I was dumbfounded. Wasn’t all this due to my neglectful and perfunctory approach to my duty? I couldn’t describe the feeling in my heart. It felt like a stone pressing on my chest, making me short of breath. Later, I read this passage of God’s words: “How you regard God’s commissions is extremely important, and this is a very serious matter. If you cannot complete what God has entrusted to people, then you are not fit to live in His presence and you should be punished. It is perfectly natural and justified that humans should complete whatever commissions God entrusts to them. This is man’s supreme responsibility, and is just as important as their very lives. If you do not take God’s commissions seriously, then you are betraying Him in the most grievous way. In this, you are more lamentable than Judas, and should be cursed” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. How to Know Man’s Nature). Reading these words of God, I felt God’s righteous disposition. If I approached my duty with a casual attitude—always being perfunctory and slippery, and slacking off—it indicated a serious betrayal of God, and I would be unworthy of being in God’s presence and deserving of curse and punishment. I was frightened, feeling that I was in a dangerous position. Thinking about the church’s arrangement for me to inspect videos, the hope was that I would put all my heart and strength into the work and do it well. But I had been slippery in my duties and looking for ways to slack off. When encountering issues that I did not understand or could not see through, I failed to ponder them diligently. Rather, when faced with issues that required significant effort and thinking, I chose to save myself the trouble and set the videos aside, failing to promptly do research and study, or seek relevant principles to guide other team members. I had not fulfilled my responsibilities. What I had done entirely hindered the video work. Thinking back to when I first took on this duty, I resolved before God to cherish the opportunity of doing this duty and be loyal to repay God’s love. But now, if I could just get by, I did so without any sense of responsibility. Wasn’t this blatant deceit toward God? I had truly let God down and was not trustworthy! Thinking about this made me feel regretful and self-reproachful, and even more indebted to God. I cried as I prayed to God, “Oh God, my actions have only obstructed and disrupted the work. I am willing to repent and correct my attitude toward my duty. Please guide me.”

Later, I began to ponder. At first, I wanted to do well in my duty, but how did it end up being like this? While seeking answers, I came across these passages of God’s words: “Lazy people can’t do anything. To summarize it in two words, they are useless people; they have a second-class disability. No matter how good the caliber of lazy people is, it is nothing more than window dressing; even though they have good caliber, it is of no use. They are too lazy—they know what they are supposed to do, but they don’t do it, and even if they know something is a problem, they do not seek the truth to resolve it, and though they know what hardships they should suffer in order for the work to be effective, they are unwilling to endure these worthwhile hardships—so they cannot gain any truths, and they cannot do any real work. They do not wish to endure the hardships people are supposed to; they only know to indulge in comfort, enjoy times of joy and leisure, and enjoy a free and relaxed life. Are they not useless? People who cannot endure hardship don’t deserve to live. Those who always wish to live the life of a parasite are people without conscience or reason; they are beasts, and such people are unfit even to perform labor. Because they cannot endure hardship, even when they do perform labor, they are not able to do it well, and if they wish to gain the truth, there is even less hope of that. Someone who cannot suffer and does not love the truth is a useless person; they are unqualified even to perform labor. They are a beast, without a shred of humanity. Such people must be eliminated; only this accords with God’s intentions” (The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (8)). “Are you content to live under the influence of Satan, with peace and joy, and a little fleshly comfort? Are you not the lowliest of all people? None are more foolish than those who have beheld salvation but do not pursue to gain it; these are people who gorge themselves on the flesh and enjoy Satan. You hope that your faith in God will not entail any challenges or tribulations, or the slightest hardship. You always pursue those things that are worthless, and you attach no value to life, instead putting your own extravagant thoughts before the truth. You are so worthless! You live like a pig—what difference is there between you, and pigs and dogs? Are those who do not pursue the truth, and instead love the flesh, not all beasts? Are those dead ones without spirits not all walking corpses? How many words have been spoken among you? Has only a little work been done among you? How much have I provided among you? So why have you not gained it? What do you have to complain of? Is it not the case that you have gained nothing because you are too in love with the flesh? And is it not because your thoughts are too extravagant? Is it not because you are too stupid? If you are incapable of gaining these blessings, can you blame God for not saving you? … I give you the true way without asking for anything in return, yet you do not pursue. Are you one of those who believe in God? I bestow real human life upon you, yet you do not pursue. Are you no different from a pig or a dog? Pigs do not pursue the life of man, they do not pursue being cleansed, and they do not understand what life is. Each day, after eating their fill, they simply sleep. I have given you the true way, yet you have not gained it: You are empty-handed. Are you willing to continue in this life, the life of a pig? What is the significance of such people being alive? Your life is contemptible and ignoble, you live amid filth and licentiousness, and you do not pursue any goals; is your life not the most ignoble of all? Do you have the gall to look upon God? If you continue to experience in this way, will you not acquire nothing? The true way has been given to you, but whether or not you can ultimately gain it depends on your own personal pursuit” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment). In the past, I never associated myself with terms like “trash” or “parasite,” let alone imagined that in God’s eyes, my behavior could be akin to that of a walking corpse, making no distinction between me with pigs and dogs. This realization was heart-wrenching and sad. But what God’s words exposed was exactly my behavior. I had been treating the enjoyment of physical comfort as my goal, always seeking to live an easy and leisurely life. When faced with difficulties in my duty that required me to make efforts and pay a price, I resorted to cunning and slothfulness. I would either muddle through to get by or ignore the videos and leave them unaddressed, doing whatever would save effort. I failed to fulfill my responsibilities, causing delays in the work. Wasn’t I exactly trash and a parasite just living off others? I had fallen into this state because I had been poisoned and influenced by such satanic toxins as “Life is short, so enjoy it while you can,” “Drink today’s wine today,” and “Treat yourself while you’re alive.” These toxic ideologies led me to prioritize my physical comfort above all else, only ensuring that I wouldn’t be exhausted or stressed. As for whether I fulfilled my responsibilities and obligations, or whether God approved of how I carried out my duty, I didn’t care at all. Living by these toxins made me increasingly selfish and degenerated, devoid of any resolve to pursue positive things. Although this approach made life easier for me, it resulted in no growth or gain. Rather, it hindered the work, resulting in transgression. Indulging in physical comfort equates to ruining myself!

Later, I was selected to be a team leader. At that time, two sisters had just started practicing making videos. Besides making videos on my own, I had to guide their work and manage the overall work of the group. Sometimes, seeing that the problems in some videos were complicated, I would again think of taking shortcuts. I thought, “If I seek the principles for each problem and ponder, it would take a lot of thinking. When can I ever finish all these tasks at hand? Just thinking about it makes me feel exhausted. It’s too much trouble! Maybe I shouldn’t be so meticulous. As long as it looks acceptable, that should be enough.” I realized that I was once again seeking physical comfort. Recalling Noah’s attitude toward his duty, I looked up related words of God. Almighty God says: “From when God entrusted the construction of the ark to Noah, at no point did Noah think to himself, ‘When is God going to destroy the world? When is He going to give me the signal that He will do so?’ Rather than pondering such matters, Noah earnestly took each thing that God had told him to heart, and then carried each one out. After accepting what was entrusted to him by God, Noah set about carrying out and executing the construction of the ark spoken of by God as the most important thing in his life, without the slightest hint of carelessness. Days passed, years went by, day after day, year after year. God was never supervising Noah, spurring him on, but throughout all this time, Noah persevered in the important task entrusted to him by God. Every word and phrase that God had uttered was inscribed on Noah’s heart like words carved upon a stone tablet. Heedless of the changes in the outside world, of the ridicule of those around him, of the hardship involved, or of the difficulties he encountered, he persevered, throughout, in what had been entrusted to him by God, never despairing or thinking of giving up. God’s words were inscribed upon Noah’s heart, and they had become his everyday reality. … In Noah’s heart, there was no higher instruction that he ought to follow and carry out: God’s words were his lifelong direction and goal. So, no matter what God said to him, no matter what God asked him to do, commanded him to do, Noah completely accepted it, and took it to heart; he regarded it as the most important thing in his life, and handled it accordingly. He not only did not forget, he not only kept it in his heart, but also realized it in his daily life, using his life to accept and carry out God’s commission. And in this way, plank by plank, the ark was built. Noah’s every move, his every day, were dedicated to the words and commandments of God. It might not have seemed that Noah was performing a momentous undertaking, but in the eyes of God, everything Noah did, even every step he took to achieve something, every labor performed by his hand—they were all precious, and deserving of remembrance, and worthy of emulation by this mankind” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Excursus Two: How Noah and Abraham Obeyed God’s Words and Submitted to Him (Part One)). Noah’s attitude toward his duty made me feel ashamed. No matter how difficult it was to build the ark or what sacrifices it required, Noah had only one goal in mind: to fulfill God’s commission to satisfy Him. To achieve this goal, Noah truly endured hardship and paid a price, gathering all the necessary materials and building the ark piece by piece with a hammer and chisel, persisting for 120 years. I was deeply inspired by Noah’s experience. I could no longer seek comfort and treat my duty perfunctorily. I needed to pray and rely on God and emulate Noah’s attitude toward his duty. No matter the difficulties or the price in doing my duty, I had to do my best to cooperate. Afterward, I brought my state before God in prayers. Sometimes when I found many issues in some videos, I would first carefully ponder them by applying the principles and discuss them with my partnered sister, and then communicate with our brothers and sisters. When faced with complex problems in some videos, instead of ignoring them, I would search for information to learn and seek breakthroughs, doing my best to fellowship with the brothers and sisters about the paths to practice. In managing the overall work, I also tried my best to accommodate all aspects, communicating with my partnered sister to address any deviations or problems we encountered in the work. After a period of collaboration in this manner, both the sister and I made some progress. Previously, I had only a superficial understanding of some principles. But through fellowship with my brothers and sisters, I gained deeper insights into these problems, which helped me improve my specialist skills. I also felt a greater sense of burden in my duty than before. Only then did I realize that through the process of doing our duties, God enlightens and guides us to understand the truth principles bit by bit, giving us burdens and opportunities for practice. Although our flesh may suffer a bit, ultimately, we are the ones who benefit from it. Thank God!