Are you still feeling distressed because you can’t free yourself from the shackles of sin? Read this article now, and you'll benefit in unexpected ways.
By Sun Yun
Putting Aside Personal Profit, I Adopted a New Way of Living
One day at work, there was a light load of dishes and so Ms. Wang and I were able to take a short break. In order to finish work early, I only rested for a little bit and then went right back to the dishwashing station and continued working. However, after working for a whole hour, Ms. Wang still hadn’t returned and so I became angry, thinking, “I’ve been working for this long and you still haven’t shown up? How could someone be so inconsiderate?” As soon as I thought of this, it was as if “unhappy” were written across my face—when Ms. Wang returned from her break she saw the look on my face and blew up in anger. “I just can’t take it when someone does a little extra work and then makes faces at everyone else.” With that, she angrily took up some tableware and began cleaning, not paying me any mind. There was an unbearable tension in the room and the whole atmosphere became terribly repressed and awkward. I was also very mad and thought to myself, “We’re all here to work, how can you be so self-righteous sitting there not doing a thing!” I was just about to fire back at Ms. Wang when I suddenly remembered that I’m a Christian and shouldn’t act on my emotions, so I immediately called out to God, saying “Dear God, I ask that You protect my heart and allow me to quiet myself before You and that all that I do and say may be in keeping with your intentions.”
After praying, I thought of a passage of God’s word: “Your reputations have been destroyed, your manner is depraved, your way of speaking is lowly, and your lives are despicable; even the entirety of your humanity has sunk into base lowliness. You are narrow-minded toward others, and you haggle over every little thing” (“You Are All So Base in Character!”). God’s words brought me instant enlightenment and guidance and allowed me to realize that I had just manifested my selfish and lowly satanic disposition. Just because I had worked just a little more than my co-worker I became unhappy and had to fuss about it and give her dirty looks to vent my dissatisfaction. I didn’t have even the slightest semblance of a Christian. With this kind of satanic disposition, I was unable to get along with people normally, much less bring honor and glory to God’s name. What a selfish and lowly nature I had!
As I washed dishes, I thought to myself, “I don’t want to live anymore according to my selfish, lowly, and corrupt disposition—so how should I interact with others?” I thought of yet another passage from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life: “In order for people to interact normally with one another, they must possess a few principles of practice. These principles should not only include not taking advantage of others, not harming others, but having some love. They further include having a conscience and rationality, helping one another, showing tolerance to one another, caring for others, letting others benefit in all situations, considering others, not just caring about yourself, showing compassion for others’ weaknesses, and forgiving the transgressions of others. If we have these few principles, we will be able to build a normal relationship with others and we will be able to live in harmony with each other.” After thinking of this, I realized that if you want to build a normal relationship with someone, you have to live out normal humanity. One can’t just consider one’s own personal profit, but should be compassionate, understanding and should lovingly help others. God only delights in this kind of person. I thought also of how, when I first started on the job, Ms. Wang had been very helpful. She was not young and so the hard physical labor must have been very tiring for her. It made sense that she would need to rest a little more. By contrast, being young and full of vitality, it only made sense that I should work more. Once I had realized this, my raging emotions settled down and I began speaking calmly with Ms. Wang, offering to help her with her work. Gradually, a smile once again appeared on Ms. Wang’s face and the awkward atmosphere was erased by the sounds of our laughter and chatting.
From then on, whenever the hotel was hosting a reception, Ms. Wang would head to station two early and station one became my own personal “headquarters.” One day, looking around at the stacks of dirty plates and silverware piled about the dishwashing station, so crowded and disarrayed that you could barely get in or out of the room, I wanted to sob in self-pity and once again felt reproach toward Ms. Wang. I thought to myself, “I’ve been saddled with a hard, heavy workload and you’re there sitting pretty, taking all the easy work for yourself and thinking only how to lighten your own load. All this and you still get the same amount of pay. What a bully you are!” Just when I was about to complain, I remembered that all the people, situations and things that we encounter in our everyday lives are invested with God’s intentions and all have lessons to teach. My selfish, lowly, and satanic disposition had gotten out of hand—only this kind of situation could expose my corrupt disposition and allow me to be purified, transformed and live out normal humanity. Having realized this, I prayed to God in my heart, saying, “Dear God, I pray that You guide me to put aside my own interests, betray my selfish and lowly satanic disposition, stop being so rigid with Ms. Wang about how our work is split up and truly submit to this environment.”
Later on, I remembered a passage of God’s word that says: “When you reveal yourself to be selfish and ignoble, and have become conscious of this, you should seek the truth: What should I do to be in line with God’s will? How should I act so that it benefits everyone? That is, you must begin by setting your own interests aside, gradually giving them up according to your stature, a little at a time. After you have experienced this a few times, you will have set them aside completely, and as you do so, you will feel more and more steadfast. The more you set your interests aside, the more you will feel that as a human being, you should have conscience and reason. You will feel that without selfish motives, you are being a straightforward, upright person, and you are doing things entirely in order to satisfy God. You will feel that such behavior makes you worthy of being called ‘human,’ and that in living this way on earth, you are being open and honest, you are being a genuine person, you have a clear conscience, and are worthy of all the things bestowed upon you by God. The more you live like this, the more steadfast and the brighter you will feel” (“Give Your True Heart to God, and You Can Obtain the Truth”).
God’s word pointed out a path of practice for me. If you wish to rid yourself of your selfish and lowly satanic disposition, you must put aside your personal interests in every real situation you encounter, have the resolve to endure suffering, and practice according to God’s word. Only in so doing will you feel grounded and serene, live in a straightforward and upright manner and with a greater and greater semblance of humanity. If I’m always haggling over every last dime and cent in defense of my personal interests, attach great importance to every loss and gain, and cannot accept when things don’t go my way, not only will I feel psychologically repressed and agonized and incapable of normal relations with my peers, I will, more importantly, always guard my own interests instead of practicing the truth and, as such, my corrupt disposition will not be purified. Once I had understood God’s intentions, I no longer felt so agonized and was willing to submit to this kind of environment. I also became determined to use my behavior in real life to shame Satan and bring comfort to God’s heart. After that, I quieted my heart and focused on washing dishes. Unwittingly, I began to work faster and with greater ease and my mood lightened—I felt great. It was clear to me that my new-found happiness and enjoyment was all the result of practicing God’s word. In no time at all, I had washed all the dishes in station one. Thanks be to God!
In Practicing the Truth, My Greatest Attainment Has Been Spiritual Joy
Just as I was happily preparing to finish work and go home, a food runner told me, “Ms. Wang still has a lot more dishwashing to do.” When I heard this, I thought to myself, “I seldom get to leave work on time. Today I have the rare opportunity to leave a little early, so should I still go and help her? In the past, when I was busy she never helped me, so should I really give up my time to help her? It wouldn’t be unreasonable to not go help her, so I guess I’ll head out.” Yet, just as I had this thought, I remembered a passage from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life, which said: “Kind-hearted people have forbearance, mercy, forgiveness, and endurance in their hearts, and even more so they have love and sympathy. That is why everyone loves to be in contact with someone like this and is willing to make such a friend” (“The Truth One Must Enter Into to Achieve Dispositional Change and Expressions of Dispositional Change” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (IV)).
Indeed, kind-hearted people don’t consider how others treat them, but are always willing to lend a helping hand whenever others are in need. Such people don’t haggle over every last dime and cent in defense of their personal interests—they are truly good people. As a Christian, I shouldn’t be so stingy about personal loss or gain, I shouldn’t live in service of my own interests, but should treat those around me with love. Only by living in this way does one have a semblance of humanity. As such, I turned right around and casually strode over to station two. When Ms. Wang saw me, she was embarrassed and said, “You’ve already finished your work, you should head home.” I replied, saying, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll help you finish up here. When we’re done we can clock off together.” So we continued working, laughing and chatting as we went, and very soon we had finished washing all the remaining dishes.
After that, whenever Ms. Wang and I saw each other, she was particularly kind and warm and she would split all the easy work with me. When the food runner saw how well the two of us got along, she laughed saying, “Ms. Sun, you have a good temper. I’ve never seen you get angry with Ms. Wang or fight with her. The last two dishwashers that came through here got in such heated disputes with her that they both quit.” Ms. Wang nodded, saying, “That’s right, Little Sun is good-tempered, kind, honest and dependable. I like spending time with this kind of person.” Upon hearing their compliments, I thought to myself, “It’s not that I’m any good, it’s God’s word that has transformed me. I’ve learned how to get along with people, am no longer so stingy about my personal gains and losses, and have begun living out some amount of normal humanity. These results were all achieved through God’s word. Thanks be to God for all that He has wrought!”
Through this experience, I’ve come to understand that God’s word is our real guide in life, the principle by which we should act and that we should never stray from the guidance of God’s word. No matter whom we are dealing with, no matter how hard they may be to get along with, as long as we come before God and practice His word, we can easily resolve any problems we may have in our interactions with others and build harmonious relationships.
Editor’s Note: Have you encountered the same kind of problems that Sister Sun did at work? Are you agonizing over interpersonal relationships? As long as we accept God’s words and practice God’s words in our everyday lives, our relationships will improve and we’ll feel more relaxed and happy.
Source From: Faith and Life
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