The Attitude God Requires That Mankind Should Have Toward Him

In fact, God is not very demanding of mankind—or at least, He is not as demanding as people imagine. Without God’s utterances, or any expression of His disposition, deeds, or words, then knowing God would be extremely difficult for you, for people would have to infer God’s meaning and intentions, which is very hard for them. But with regard to the final stage of His work, God has spoken many words, done a great amount of work, and made many requirements of man. In His words, and His great amount of work, He has informed people of what He likes, what He loathes, and what kind of people they should be. After understanding these things, in their hearts people should have an accurate definition of God’s requirements, for they do not believe in God amid vagueness and abstractness, and they no longer believe in the vague God, or follow God amid vagueness and abstractness, and nothingness; instead, people are able to hear God’s utterances, they are able to understand the standards of His requirements, and attain them, and God uses the language of mankind to tell people all that they should know and understand. Today, if people are still unaware of God’s requirements of them, what God is, why they believe in God, and how they should believe in God and behave toward Him, then in this there is a problem. … God’s correct requirements of mankind and those who follow Him are as follows. God requires five things of those who follow Him: true belief, loyal following, absolute obedience, true knowledge, and heartfelt reverence.

In these five things, God requires that people no longer question Him, nor follow Him using their imagination or vague and abstract viewpoints; they must not follow God with any imaginings or conceptions. God requires that every one of those who follow Him do so loyally, not half-heartedly or noncommittally. When God makes any requirements of you, or tests you, judges you, deals with and prunes you, or disciplines and smites you, you should be absolutely obedient to Him. You should not ask the cause, or make conditions, much less should you speak of the reason. Your obedience must be absolute. Knowing God is the area in which people are most lacking. They often impose upon God sayings, utterances, and words that are unrelated to Him, believing that these words are the most accurate definition of the knowledge of God. Little do they know that these sayings, which come from people’s imagination, their own reasoning, and their own intellect, bear not the slightest relation to God’s substance. And so, I want to tell you that, in the knowledge in people desired by God, God does not merely ask that you recognize God and His words, but that your knowledge of God is correct. Even if you can only say one sentence, or are only aware of a little bit, this little bit of awareness is correct and true, and compatible with the substance of God Himself. For God detests people’s praise and commendation of Him that is unrealistic and ill-considered. More than that, He hates it when people treat Him like the air. He hates it when, during discussion of topics about God, people speak flippantly, talking at will and without hesitation, talking however they see fit; moreover, He hates those who believe they know God, and are boastful about the knowledge of God, discussing topics about God without constraint or reservation. The last of those five requirements was heartfelt reverence. This is God’s ultimate requirement of all those who follow Him. When someone has the correct and true knowledge of God, they are able to truly revere God and shun evil. This reverence comes from the depths of their heart, and it is willing, and not because God has pressed them. God does not ask that you make a gift of any nice attitude, or conduct, or outward behavior to Him; instead, He asks that you revere Him and fear Him from the depths of your heart. This reverence is attained as a result of changes in your life disposition, because you have knowledge of God, because you have an understanding of God’s deeds, because of your understanding of God’s substance, and because you have acknowledged the fact that you are one of God’s creatures. And so, My aim in using the word “heartfelt” to define reverence here is so that mankind understands that people’s reverence for God should come from the bottom of their hearts.

Now consider those five requirements: Are there any among you capable of attaining the first three? By which I mean true belief, loyal following, and absolute obedience. Are there any among you who are capable of these things? I know that if I said all five, then there would unquestionably be none among you who are—but I’ve reduced it to three. Have a think about whether you’ve achieved them or not. Is “true belief” easy to attain? (No, it isn’t.) It’s not easy, for people often question God. Is “loyal following” easy to achieve? (No, it isn’t.) What does this “loyal” refer to? (Not being half-hearted but wholehearted.) Yes, not being half-hearted, but wholehearted. You’ve hit the nail on the head! So are you capable of achieving this requirement? You’ve got to try harder—at the moment you’ve yet to achieve this requirement! What about “absolute obedience”—have you achieved that? (No.) You haven’t achieved that, either. You are often disobedient, and rebellious, you often don’t listen, or wish to obey, or want to hear. These are the three most fundamental requirements achieved by people following their entry into life, and they have yet to be achieved in you. So, at the moment, do you have great potential? Today, having heard Me say these words, do you feel anxious? (Yes!) It’s right that you feel anxious—I feel anxious on your behalves! I won’t go into the other two requirements; without doubt, no one is capable of achieving them. You’re anxious. So have you determined your objectives? What objectives, toward what direction, should you pursue, and devote your efforts? Do you have an objective? Let Me speak plainly: When you achieve these five requirements, you will have satisfied God. Each of them is an indicator, an indicator of people’s entry into life having reached maturity, and the final objective of this. Even if I only picked a single one of these requirements to speak of in detail and require of you, it wouldn’t be easy to achieve; people must endure a degree of hardship and put in a certain amount of effort. And what kind of mentality should you have? It should be the same as a cancer patient waiting to go onto the operating table. And why do I say this? If you wish to believe in God, and wish to gain God and gain His satisfaction, then if you don’t endure a degree of pain or put in a certain amount of effort, you will not be able to achieve these things. You have heard much preaching, but having heard it does not mean this preaching is yours; you must absorb it and transform it into something that belongs to you, you must assimilate it into your life, and bring it into your existence, allowing these words and preaching to guide the way you live, and bring existential value and meaning to your life—and then it will have been worth you hearing these words. If the words I speak do not bring any upturn in your lives, or any value to your existence, then there is no point in you listening to them. You understand this, yes? Having understood that, then what is left is up to you. You must get to work! You must be earnest in all things! Don’t be at sixes and sevens—time is flying by! Most among you have already believed for over ten years. Look back on these over ten years of belief: How much have you gained? And how many decades of this life do you have left? There’s not long; whatever you do, do not say that in His work God waits for you, and saves opportunities for you. God will absolutely not turn back and do the same work. Can you reverse your last ten years? With every day that passes and every step you take, the days that you have are shortened by a day, lessened by a day, yes? Time waits for no man! You will only gain from the belief in God if you approach it as the greatest thing in your life, more important than food, clothes, or anything else! If you only believe when you have the time, and are incapable of devoting your entire attention to your belief, if you always make do, and are at sixes and sevens, then you will gain nothing.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique X