One day, I saw a reading video of the words of Almighty God. God says, “One exhausts a lifetime’s worth of energy fighting against fate, spends all of one’s time bustling about trying to feed one’s family and shuttling back and forth between wealth and status. The things that people treasure are family, money, and fame; they view these as the most valuable things in life. All people complain about their fates, yet still they push to the back of their minds the questions that it is most imperative to examine and understand: why man is alive, how man should live, what the value and meaning of life is.
All of their lives, however many years that may be, they just rush about seeking fame and fortune, until their youth has fled, until they become gray and wrinkled; until they see that fame and fortune cannot stop one’s slide toward senility, that money cannot fill the emptiness of the heart; until they understand that no one is exempt from the law of birth, aging, sickness, and death, that no one can escape what fate has in store” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). Almighty God’s words have revealed the root of my suffering. So, the fact that I have been living so miserably results from my chasing after fortune and fame. Thinking back, I pursued being a rich one from a child and thought that once one has money, he will have everything. Therefore, I strove for making more money without any hesitation. However, I was pushed to the teeth of the storm of chasing after fame and gain by money finally. After having made some money, I desired much more. Afterward, when I lost 800, 000 RMB because of buying stocks, I was nearly to be dispirited. Even if I was at my lowest time, I yet tried my hardest to keep my status of being “a rich one” painfully. Now for the sake of chasing after money, I left distantly my families and came to America, and I was so tired that I had a backache. Looking back on my life journey, I realized money brought me not bliss but lots and lots of suffering.
God’s words say, “when one has property, one thinks that money is one’s mainstay, that it is one’s asset in life; when people have status, they cling tightly to it and would risk their lives for its sake. Only when people are about to let go of this world do they realize that the things they spent their lives pursuing are nothing but fleeting clouds, none of which they can hold onto, none of which they can take with them, none of which can exempt them from death, none of which can provide company or consolation to a lonely soul on its way back; and least of all, none of which can give a person salvation, allow them to transcend death. Fame and fortune one gains in the material world give one temporary satisfaction, passing pleasure, a false sense of ease, and make one lose one’s way. … People spend their lives chasing after money and fame; they clutch at these straws, thinking they are their only means of support, as if by having them they could keep on living, could exempt themselves from death. But only when they are close to dying do they realize how distant these things are from them, how weak they are in the face of death, how easily they shatter, how lonely and helpless they are, with nowhere to turn. They realize that life cannot be bought with money or fame, that no matter how wealthy a person is, no matter how lofty his or her position is, all people are equally poor and inconsequential in the face of death. They realize that money cannot buy life, that fame cannot erase death, that neither money nor fame can lengthen a person’s life by a single minute, a single second” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). I felt that each word of Almighty God is the truth, which reveals the substance of money. Indeed, money can only bring people passing satisfaction, can swell people’s desires and make one lose the direction to go forward. In the end, what it brings to man is still affliction. And through the fellowships of the brothers and sisters, I came to know that Satan does bind and afflict us with these things, resulting in that we live for these empty things and ignores God’s will. Satan blinds our mind in order to make us not have time to ponder what the meaning of life is and who rules man’s fate on earth. Furthermore, Satan lures us into one after another vortex by money and fame, making us accept Satan’s manipulation and toying and live in misery without being able to extricate ourselves. Satan’s scheme is to damage and harm us to make us stay distant from God. After understanding these, I was enlightened. I realized that my previous view of pursuit was wrong, and I would choose my way of life anew—to follow God and walk the bright path of pursuing the truth and knowing God.
Though I had the wish to rebel against Satan and walk the right path of life, money had rooted in my heart too deeply. Sometimes my emotions would be affected because of bad business; sometimes, my heart was addicted to earning more money even if it was time to attend a meeting. However, I knew attending meetings could bring me more truth, and if I was absent, I would lose many truths. As a result, I dropped in the dilemma between earning money and attending meetings. Therefore, I told the trouble in my heart to the sister, then she helped me with a passage of God’s words. God says, “The sadness of man is not that man seeks happy life, not that he pursues fame and fortune or struggles against his own fate through the fog, but that after he has seen the Creator’s existence, after he has learned the fact that the Creator has sovereignty over human fate, he still cannot mend his ways, cannot pull his feet out of the mire, but hardens his heart and persists in his errors. He would rather keep thrashing in the mud, vying obstinately against the Creator’s sovereignty, resisting it until the bitter end, without the slightest shred of contrition, and only when he lies broken and bleeding does he at last decide to give up and turn back. This is true human sorrow. So I say, those who choose to submit are wise, and those who choose to escape are pig-headed” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). Almighty God’s words have authority and show me the direction of progressing forward. From Almighty God’s words, I understood that only when one submits to the Creator’s sovereignty and arrangements has he had a wise choice. I ought not to keep on struggling in the vortex of money. In the past, I fought against fate because I did not know God’s sovereignty. But now, I’ve already known that my fate is in God’s hand and how much wealth one has in a lifetime is also controlled by God, so I need to forsake the pursuit of money and accept the sovereignty and arrangements of the Creator calmly, which is the only secret of feeling at ease in mind. When I was willing to give my fate to God, I felt at ease and was no longer affected by business, whether it went well or not. If it was time to open my shop, I would open it; if it was time to attend meetings, I would attend meetings. Previously, when it rained, there would be fewer customers coming to my shop. Consequently, I would be on tenterhooks. Today, if it rains, I will spend more time listening to the readings of Almighty God’s words, hymns and watching Gospel movies. In consequence, my life is beginning to become colorful.
Before long, another thing happened. When my brother paid a client, he mistook a wad of two thousand dollars for one thousand dollars. As a result, he should pay three thousand dollars, but he paid the client six thousand dollars by mistake. On hearing the information, I felt angry right away and thought: “These three thousand dollars are just over twenty thousand RMB. How many efforts do I need to make to earn the money! You gave it to other person just because of your momentary carelessness….” When I was about to lose my temper, I suddenly thought of Almighty God’s words: “Job’s attitude toward his property reveals to people his true humanity: Firstly, Job was not a greedy man, and was undemanding in his material life. Secondly, Job never worried or feared that God would take away all that he had, which was his attitude of obedience toward God in his heart; that is, he had no demands or complaints about when or whether God would take from him, and did not ask the reason why, but only sought to obey the arrangements of God. Thirdly, he never believed that his assets came from his own labors, but that they were bestowed unto him by God. This was Job’s faith in God, and is an indication of his conviction” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II”). I realized that though this thing was not a big matter, it was also a spiritual war. God was watching whether I could rebel against Satan and obey God, while Satan was observing whether I would complain and betray God. If I lost my temper, wouldn’t I have fallen into Satan’s trickery? Job, in the face of that big trial, didn’t have any complaints and could keep his mouth closed not to sin verbally. By contrast, I was about to lose my temper just because I had lost three thousand dollars. Wasn’t I still controlled by money? How much money people can earn in their lifetime is in God’s hand. People often say, “You will have it if it belongs to you, whereas you don’t kvetch for it if it doesn’t appear in your life.” Moreover, since I have believed in God now, oughtn’t I to believe in and submit to God’s sovereignty? Thinking of those, I was resolved to rebel against Satan and cast off the bondage of money. When I was pondering like this, I gradually held my temper, and felt so relaxed that I thanked God in my heart unceasingly!
Under the guidance of Almighty God’s words, I have gradually walked out of the vortex of money. Thinking back, I lived under the domain of Satan and was bound by money, leading a weary life. Without God’s salvation, I would have still been the slave of money and been bound by money, fooling away my time, and then all my life would pass by unconsciously. At this moment, I deeply feel that Almighty God loves mankind so much. I don’t have many truths, but I’ve already felt the love and salvation of God. I will pursue the truth diligently and follow God to walk the right path of life. Thank and praise Almighty God! All the glory be to God!
The End.
Comments
Post a Comment