By Mu Che, China

In early February 2024,I was doing text-based duty in the church. At first, I was quite motivated; I felt my life entry was rather superficial, and that I was deficient in all areas, so I thought that by practicing in my text-based duty and understanding truths and principles more, I could achieve life growth more quickly. Later on, the supervisor had me partner with a sister named Qin Lan to manage a group’s sermon review work and the studies of its members. Qin Lan had been doing her text-based duty for longer than me and had a grasp of the principles and professional skills. I was very happy, as being partnered with her meant I could learn more things and grow more quickly in my duty. Knowing that I had just started in this duty, Qin Lan gave me rather detailed guidance in our work. When looking over sermons, she would first ask for my view on them, and if I didn’t understand something, she would fellowship with me point-by-point. I studied diligently and took notes, feeling quite relaxed doing my duty in this way. Later on, while reviewing the work, I realized that there really was a lot to do. Apart from selecting sermons, we had to keep abreast of group members’ current situations and work progress, and when work results declined, we had to review all the deviations and issues. We also had to study professional skills, cultivate talent, and so on. I thought to myself, “Managing all these different projects is too complicated; how much thought and energy do I have to put in and how much of a price must I pay to do all this work well?” As soon as I had these thoughts, it just felt like too much of a headache and too tiring for my flesh. When the sisters and I reviewed deviations in the work, I would want to participate and get involved, but when I thought of how I was new to this duty and didn’t understand things, and Qin Lan was familiar with all aspects of the work, it seemed better to rely on her more, and I was fine with just playing the role of listener. When writing letters regarding rectifying deviations, I would just organize the main points Qin Lan had discussed, which saved me a lot of trouble. When the work results suffered, the sisters all got very worried and would self-reflect and summarize deviations in their work, but I remained unbothered, thinking our work results had nothing to do with me. I thought I was new to the duty, either didn’t understand or couldn’t do things, and looked at problems superficially, so I settled into being a typical lackey. Every day, I would just check up on the work in a routine fashion, not wanting to put too much thought into it. Sometimes I’d start getting sleepy even before 9 p.m.

At the beginning of March, I experienced bad pain in my knees along with chest pain for several days in a row. A sister gave me a reminder, saying, “You haven’t shown much sense of burden in your duty recently. Now that you’ve gotten sick, you can do some self-examination.” She also used another sister’s experience to fellowship with me, saying how this sister had always listened to and relied on others in her duty, didn’t have her own views on things, and later was dismissed due to not being effective in her duty. Only after being dismissed did she regret this and realize the importance of her duty. I felt pretty awful after hearing this sister’s fellowship, thinking, “Hasn’t this also been my state recently? I haven’t wanted to bother with anything and have just acted like a lackey.” I thought of a passage of God’s words I’d read a few days earlier: “Some people appear to have submission in doing their duty, doing whatever the Above arranges for them. But when asked, ‘Do you do your duty perfunctorily? Do you do it according to principles?’ they cannot provide any definite answers, only saying, ‘I do as the Above instructs and dare not recklessly commit misdeeds.’ When asked if they have fulfilled their responsibility, they say, ‘Anyway, I’m doing what I’m supposed to.’ See? They always have this kind of attitude when doing their duty—they are unhurried, do things slowly, and have no sense of urgency. You can’t really find fault with them, but if you measure their performance of duty against the truth principles, it is inefficient and inadequate. Although it’s inadequate, they can still do something—and yet they don’t take the initiative to do it. Aren’t they shamelessly stubborn? They always maintain this attitude: ‘Even if you beat me or scold me, I will still be like this. I’m standing right here—let’s see what you can do to me. This is my attitude!’ They don’t have many evil deeds, but they don’t have many good deeds either. What path would you say they are walking? Is their attitude toward their belief in God and their duty good? (No.) In the Bible, God says this: ‘So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth’ (Revelation 3:16). Being lukewarm, neither hot nor cold—is this attitude good? (No.) Some people think, ‘If I do evil and cause disruptions, I will be quickly condemned; this is not sustainable. But if I positively and proactively do things, I will get tired, and if I make a mistake doing something, I might get pruned, or even be dismissed, which would be so embarrassing! So I stay lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. Whatever you ask me to do, I will do a bit of it. But if you don’t tell me to do something, I won’t intervene. This way, I won’t get tired, and on top of that people won’t be able to find fault with me. This approach is great!’ Is this way of conducting oneself good? (No.)” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth II. How to Pursue the Truth (11)). God’s words had a deep impact on me. He had exposed my very condition in my duty. Outwardly, I would do whatever the supervisor told me to; I checked up on the work and selected sermons, doing all of these things, and I didn’t do evil or cause disturbances. However, I had a passive attitude in my duty. I had been doing text-based work for over a month, and I went through every day muddle-headed and with no sense of urgency. I just acted like a lackey in my duty, going along with Qin Lan’s viewpoints in my responses to letters, and not getting involved in the reviewing of the work. When there was no progress in the work, I didn’t get worried or anxious and just used the excuses of “I can’t do it” or “I don’t understand it.” I had a neglectful attitude toward everything and lacked even the slightest sense of burden in my duty. Those who bear a burden in their duty are able to consider God’s intentions and think about how to undertake the work quickly, and they’re able to seek the truth to resolve work issues, think about proper matters, and have a proactive attitude. As for me, I only thought about how to keep my flesh from suffering. I relied on the sister I was partnered with in all my work and didn’t fulfill a single responsibility. It was then that I realized that this sister’s reminder contained God’s intention. If I continued with this same attitude, it would be very dangerous, and I would do myself in. Having understood this, I felt like I was in a crisis and prayed to God in repentance: “Oh God, I am too heavily reliant on others and just want to be a lackey. I’m never willing to worry about things or suffer and I don’t have the slightest sense of burden in my duty. Oh God, I don’t want to remain in this ‘neither cold nor hot’ state and be eliminated by You. I want to change—please guide me.” After that, I consciously reversed my attitude in my duty, keeping serious matters in my mind and no longer dozing off in the evenings.

But because I hadn’t attended to proper work or born a burden in my duty previously, I soon faced the consequences of this. The work I supervised didn’t produce any results at all, and some brothers and sisters had become negative and passive in their duties. Like they say, “a platoon is only as good as its commander.” A few days later, since no one had made progress in the group’s study of professional skills that I managed, the supervisor put Qin Lan in charge of this task. I felt really awful upon hearing this, and realized that I hadn’t arranged set times for studying and had just passively waited for Qin Lan to make arrangements each time. Sure, Qin Lan had professional skills, but I hadn’t even fulfilled my responsibility of basic supervision and giving reminders to the group. If I had been a little more attentive, born a little more burden, and supervised studies in a timely manner, I wouldn’t have been reassigned. God was revealing me through this matter, and I felt upset and self-reproachful, thinking, “How could I have done my duty in this way? Am I not being untrustworthy? Where is my integrity and dignity?” Later on, I saw these two passages of God’s words. “How should people act, or from within what state and condition should they do just deeds, to be considered as preparing good deeds? At the very least, they must have a positive and proactive attitude, be loyal while doing their duty, be able to act according to the truth principles, and safeguard the interests of God’s house. Being positive and proactive is the key; if you are always passive, that is problematic. It’s as if you are not a member of God’s house and you are not doing your duty, as if instead you have no other choice but to do it to earn a salary under an employer’s requirement—not voluntarily, but very passively. If it weren’t for your interests being involved, you wouldn’t do it at all. Or if no one asked you to do it, you absolutely wouldn’t do it. Doing things with this approach, then, is not doing good deeds. So, people who adopt this approach are very foolish; they are passive in everything they do. They don’t do what they can think of doing, nor do they do what they can accomplish with time and effort. They just wait and observe. This is troublesome and very pitiful. … God has given you caliber and many superior conditions, allowing you to see through this matter and be competent for this work. However, you do not have the right attitude, you lack loyalty and sincerity, and you do not want to do your utmost to do it well. This greatly disappoints God! So, when faced with many situations, if you are lazy and always feel bothered and unwilling to do things, and you inwardly grumble, ‘Why am I being asked to do it and not someone else?’ then this is a foolish thought. When a duty falls to you, it is not an unfortunate event; it is an honor, and you should gladly accept it. This work won’t fatigue you or leave you exhausted to the point of death. On the contrary, if you handle this work properly and do your utmost to do it well, you will have peace and stability in your heart. You won’t have disappointed God, and when you come before God, you can be confident and stand tall. But if you don’t do this task or don’t do it well, choosing instead to conserve your energy and strength, then even though others can do this task and your not doing it won’t cause any loss, for you personally, it will be a lifelong regret! It will become a black hole, causing you to feel pain and unease throughout your life. Whenever it is mentioned that one should be loyal and sincere in doing their duty and should do their utmost, your heart will feel as if it is being stabbed by needles. You won’t feel happy, proud, or honored about this matter. On the contrary, this agony will accompany you for your entire life. If a person has a sense of conscience, they will feel this kind of sorrow. And what about from God’s perspective? God uses the truth principles to define this matter, the nature of which is far more serious than what you feel. I take it you understand. So, God will comprehensively consider your daily behavior, your attitude toward the truth, and your attitude toward your duty to evaluate the path you are walking. Suppose that your attitude toward the truth and your duty is always perfunctory and evasive, and you agree to do things on the surface but are too lazy to do them behind the scenes, and you dillydally, and lack a sense of urgency and a positive attitude of being considerate of God’s intentions. Even though you don’t disrupt and disturb, do evil, or act with wanton willfulness and commit reckless misdeeds, and you appear to be a guileless and well-behaved person, you aren’t able to positively and proactively do what God asks of you but you instead deceitfully shirk responsibility and avoid doing real work. In that case, just what path are you really walking? Even if it’s not the path of antichrists, at the very least it’s the path of a false leader” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth II. How to Pursue the Truth (11)). “No one wants to perish and be sent to hell, but many people find themselves repeatedly walking on the path leading to destruction in spite of themselves. Some people repeatedly ignore the opportunities to perform duty given by God’s house, ignore the Holy Spirit’s touch and reproach, and ignore God’s expectations. They insist on being perfunctory, committing reckless misdeeds, acting with wanton willfulness, disrupting and disturbing, being slippery and cunning, and doing evil. No one is forcing them to do these things, nor is it God’s expectation of them, or much less His requirement for them. Clearly, it is their personal choice; it is what they are willing to do, what they like to do, and what they are enthusiastic about doing. When it is said that the path they are walking leads to hell and to destruction, they feel hurt and negative. What is there to feel negative about? Isn’t this their own fault? Isn’t it self-inflicted? Isn’t it deserved? Some people say, ‘When I do evil, it’s because I can’t help myself. I want to do well at every opportunity, but after I’ve done something, I realize that what I did wasn’t very good.’ You did evil and caused disruptions and disturbances, leading to losses in the church’s work. You may not be held accountable for your transgressions, but your transgressions create hidden risks, and you could end up repeating your transgressions in the future; this is very dangerous. This is just like someone walking along a path—each step leaves a trace. Do you recognize the transgressions you have committed? Do you feel regret for them? Do you feel indebted and sad? Do you cry bitterly because of them? Have you corrected course? Do you truly hate your evil deeds? Have you put down your evil and genuinely repented to God? … If you cannot genuinely repent and continue to deceive God with your vows, then the path you are walking is one that leads to destruction. Each of your evil deeds is a knock on the gate of hell; it’s hard to say just which knock will finally open it, but when it does open, your end will have arrived. It can be said that some people, from the time they started believing in God until now, have been constantly accumulating evil deeds and knocking on the gate of hell with all of their actions and behaviors, while also accumulating God’s anger; they are waiting for God’s punishment to descend upon them” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth II. How to Pursue the Truth (11)). After reading God’s words, I felt very unsettled. God said that those who are passive in their duty, fail to do what they’re able to, and act perfunctorily and irresponsibly in their duty are people who do not do real work, walk the path of antichrists, and are condemned by God. I reflected on this, thinking: Despite doing a duty, I didn’t think of myself as a member of God’s house. Not only was I disloyal in my duty, I didn’t even fulfill the most basic responsibilities. The sister I was partnered with summarized work in order to rectify deviations and do our duties better, but as for me, I didn’t participate or inquire. I didn’t respond to letters diligently and just wrote based on what the sister said like a mindless robot. I also didn’t take everyone’s study of professional skills seriously and delayed their progress. This was all due to my fear of putting thought into my duty and my not bearing a burden. Doing my duty in this way was something that God loathed and people were repulsed by, and I was certainly not worthy of their trust. I only considered my own flesh in everything I did, did not want to put thought into my duty or pay a price, just wanted to be a lackey and have everything arranged for me, not considering the church’s work at all and not caring for God’s intention. This attitude I had toward my duty made God so disappointed. I relied on the sister I was partnered with in all things. While my flesh might have felt relaxed, I lost the chance God gave me to prepare good deeds and would never get it back. I felt indebted and regretful! The line of God’s words that said, “Each of your evil deeds is a knock on the gate of hell,” was particularly moving to me. I used to think that only Judas and others that did evil could break open the door to hell, but it turns out that God had been taking note of every time I coveted comfort, failed to bear a burden in my duty, and refused to repent, and every note God took cracked open the door to hell a little wider. The door to hell is broken open by repeatedly failing to practice the truth. This consequence is truly horrifying! Reflecting on this, I finally realized that I was truly in danger, and I felt a bit remorseful, thinking, “God has still given me a chance to repent. I have to cherish the opportunity to do my duty and make up for my transgressions.” I prayed to God, “Oh God, I don’t have the slightest bit of humanity or reason. I only care about coveting the comforts of my flesh and haven’t done a single one of the duties I ought to do well. I have greatly saddened You! Oh God, I know that doing my duty in this way will ruin me and damage the church’s work. I am willing to repent and accept Your scrutiny. Please discipline me and allow me to understand myself and cast off my corrupt disposition.”

Later on, I thought, “Why am I always afraid to put thought into things and exert my mind? What is the issue at the root of this?” I read two passages of God’s words: “Lazy people can’t do anything. In a word, they are trash; they are invalided by idleness. No matter how good the caliber of lazy people is, it is nothing more than window dressing; their good caliber is of no use. This is because they are too lazy, they know what they are supposed to do, but don’t do it; even if they know something is a problem, they do not seek the truth to resolve it; they know what hardships they should suffer in order for the work to be effective, but are unwilling to endure such valuable suffering. As a result, they do not gain any truths, and do not do any real work. They do not wish to endure the hardships people are supposed to; they know only the greed for comfort, the enjoyment of times of joy and leisure, and the enjoyment of a free and relaxed life. Are they not useless? People who cannot endure hardship are not fit to live. Whoever is always wishing to live as a parasite is someone without conscience or reason; they are a beast, of a sort unfit even to perform labor. Because they cannot endure hardship, even when they do perform labor, the results are poor, and if they wish to gain the truth, there is even less of a hope of that. A person who cannot suffer and does not love the truth is trash; they are unqualified even to perform labor. They are a beast, without a shred of humanity. Nothing short of eliminating such people accords with God’s intentions” (The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (8)). “What kind of people are useless people? Useless people are muddle-headed, people who drift through life. People of this sort are not responsible in anything they do, nor are they conscientious; they make a mess of everything. They do not heed your words no matter how you fellowship the truth with them. They think, ‘I’ll drift through life if I want to. What does it matter? I perform my duty and I’ve got food to eat, that’s good enough. At least I don’t have to beg. If I have nothing to eat one day, I’ll think about it then. Heaven will always leave a door open. So what if you say I have no conscience or sense, or that I’m muddle-headed? I haven’t broken the law, I haven’t killed anyone or set fire to anything. At the very most, I just don’t have the best character, but that’s no big loss to me. So long as I have food to eat, it’s fine.’ What do you think of this perspective? I say to you, muddle-headed people like this who drift through life are all destined to be cast out. There is no way they can achieve salvation” (The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (8)). God’s stern words stirred my benumbed heart and exposed the essence of lazy people. Lazy people are unwilling to suffer and pay a price, and always wish to live a carefree lifestyle. These people aren’t capable of achieving anything, so attaining truth and salvation would be even more impossible for them. God says lazy people are useless beasts that should be eliminated, and I was acting like just such a useless person. I didn’t want to put thought into my duty and pay a price and was living like a parasite, relying on others for everything and just drifting along. When I first started in my text-based duty, I didn’t have anyone to rely on and was able to rely on God, study diligently and make some gains. Once I began partnering with my sister, I wasn’t as diligent, I became lukewarm in my duty and didn’t want to put thought into work or pay a price, just seeking to muddle through my days in relaxation and leisure. Because I didn’t bear a burden in my duty, I didn’t take up any of the work assigned to me. The other sisters would worry about me and had to take on my work. Even so, I had no consciousness. I was naturally dependent on my sister. Even after performing the text-based duty for over a month, I was still making the excuse that I had just arrived and didn’t know about or wasn’t able to do certain things, and I didn’t check up with the work. How shameless of me! I lived by the satanic philosophy of “Life is short, so enjoy it while you can,” and “Celebrate we will, for life is short but sweet for certain.” These decadent and depraved views and ideas turned me into a degenerate. I only thought about how to keep my flesh from suffering and worry, and didn’t put the slightest thought into how to do my duty well. I caused delays to an extremely important job. I was essentially disrupting the church’s work and acting as Satan’s lackey! God says that those that take their duties lightly are even more pathetic than Judas and God loathes and hates them. The nature of such a transgression is very serious. I felt quite afraid when I thought of the consequences of all this. Someone like me was not trustworthy and if I kept bumbling along like I was, I would do myself in. I thought of how pigs wait in their pigpen every day to be fed by their owner, sleeping deeply after eating without the slightest care, only to then be slaughtered by their owner. If I kept living like I was, enjoying the comforts of my flesh, I would be no different from a pig and my elimination by God would just be a matter of time! I didn’t want to continue being lazy and useless, so I prayed to God, “Oh God, I don’t want to continue muddling along. This is a depraved way of living and has no value. Please guide me to become more diligent and properly do my duty.”

Later, I found a path of practice through God’s words. Almighty God says: “Doing your duty without doing evil is something you should achieve as a normal person. But preparing good deeds means that you must proactively and positively practice the truth and fulfill your duty according to God’s requirements and the truth principles. You must have loyalty, be willing to endure hardships and pay a price, be willing to take responsibility, and be able to act positively and proactively. Actions done according to these principles are basically all good deeds. Regardless of whether they are big or small matters, whether they are worth commemorating or not, whether they are esteemed by people or considered insignificant, or whether people think they are noteworthy, in God’s eyes, they are all good deeds. If you prepare good deeds, it will ultimately bring you blessings, not calamities. Let’s say you don’t prepare any good deeds and are just content with the following attitude: ‘I do whatever I’m told to do and go wherever I’m told to go. I never speak or act rashly, and I never mischievously stir up trouble or cause disruptions and disturbances. I’m obedient and well-behaved.’ If you always hold this attitude without proactively seeking the truth and upholding principles in doing your duty, without promptly correcting or changing your deviations and mistakes when you discover them, and never positively, proactively seeking the truth to resolve the problems of your rebelliousness or corrupt disposition when you notice yourself revealing these things, but rather just doing whatever you want, then even though you might not have caused any losses to the interests of God’s house or affected the church’s work, what you are doing is at most just laboring. Laboring, by its nature, does not qualify as good deeds. So how are good deeds ultimately defined? It is when what you do is at the very least helpful for your own life entry and that of the brothers and sisters, and beneficial to the work of God’s house. If your actions are beneficial to yourself, to others, and to God’s house, then your performance before God is effective and approved by God. God will give you a score. So, evaluate how many good deeds you have prepared over the years. Can these good deeds offset your transgressions? After offsetting them, how many good deeds are left? You need to score yourself and be certain about this in your heart; you mustn’t be confused about this matter” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth II. How to Pursue the Truth (11)). God’s words contain His intention and demands and He also tells us the path of practice. Fulfilling one’s duty as a created being is crucial. Performing one’s duty according to principle, being diligent, paying a price and bearing a burden—only by proactively performing one’s duty in this way can one prepare good deeds and accord with God’s intention. If you just go through the motions in your duty and only do what is asked, this might not seem like disruption or interruption, but you fail to put your heart into your duty, so God does not commend you. I reflected on how I had been neither cold nor hot in my duty, failing to do work assigned to me and disrupting and disturbing my duty. Not only had I not prepared good deeds, I had perpetrated transgressions. My duty was to select good gospel sermons, to help with spreading the gospel, bearing witness to God and bringing even more people before God to attain salvation. This was a very important responsibility and even the slightest amount of slacking off was unacceptable. I had just started practicing and still had many deficiencies. I had to put time and effort into studying and pondering, and perform my duty according to God’s demands and principles. I also had to learn to show concern for and inquire into work, treat my duty with responsibility and diligence and take up the burden of my work. Only this would accord with God’s intentions!

After that, I frequently prayed to God, rebelled against my flesh, stopped acting so complacent and thoughtless and was able to proactively take up my responsibilities. I also realized that the church hadn’t paired me with my sister so that I could enjoy the comforts of the flesh, but rather so that we could complement each other’s weaknesses and pool our useful ideas. Performing our duty in this way would reduce our deviations, be beneficial to our duty, and would also be helpful for our life entry. I also began consciously participating in our group’s work, would put thought into reviewing our work and express certain ideas, and my sisters would fill in where I had deficiencies. Collaborating together in this way, our fellowship became more refined and directed and I also gained things from the process. I’ve stopped being so mindless and have learned to put thought into my duty and put what I know into action. I feel more at ease now. After a period of time, I didn’t feel as muddled as before, made gains in truth and professional skills, and could sense God’s enlightenment and guidance. Thank God!