The fellowship from these churches shows that there are a few important points that truly need our attention. First, in all of the brothers’ fellowship we should all see the common principle that our work is always based on our person. What we are in our being determines the work that we can do. What we gain in the work does not depend on how much we hope and expect; it depends on what we are in our being.
Please do not be discouraged. We should never be discouraged in our work only because we have not done enough or not done things well. Many things cannot be carried out or done well simply by our endeavoring, nor can they be successfully accomplished by our striving. Rather, what we accomplish is based upon what we are. Hence, even if we have not done so well or done so much, we do not need to be discouraged, because discouragement serves no purpose.
On the other hand, we must devote a great deal of effort to work on ourselves, including the way we conduct ourselves and the way we do things. We need a deep knowledge of the Lord, we need the experiences of life, we need to be skillful in handling matters, and we need to know people in an adequate way. We must devote some effort to learn in all these aspects. For example, a brother, who was full of ambition after finishing the training last year, recently decided to go back to his locality and do better than others. This kind of ambition is not only useless but also should be rejected. Genuine work is not determined by our ambition but by our genuine condition before the Lord. The outcome of our work will be determined by the effort we put into the truth, into prayer, into the pursuit of spiritual life, and into our dealings with every matter. Hence, we must continually pursue to know the Lord, to know life, and to know people.
The young brothers and sisters tend to focus on pursuing the work. However, more than ninety percent of the work, when it is actually carried out, depends upon our diligence to be in the spirit, our conduct in the spirit, our skillfulness in doing things in the spirit, and our learning to know the Lord and know people. This kind of diligence may not seem like it is doing a work, but it truly enables us to do our work properly. If we disregard these things and do not devote any effort to them but, instead, only want to do a work, we will not accomplish anything, and our work will not yield any result. The result of our work is based absolutely on the weight of our work, and the weight of our work is based absolutely on what we are. In other words, God cares more for what we are than for what we do. What we are is more important than what we do.
The young brothers and sisters must devote a great deal of effort before the Lord. In our living and in our conduct, we do not need to have lofty ambitions, expecting to do some great work. If this is what we care for, we should be prepared to wake up to an empty dream. We do not need to be ambitious in the work, nor do we need to determine anything. Instead, we simply should cultivate what we are in a diligent manner. We should not expect to do so much in Taiwan to accomplish something in the churches nor expect to reach a certain stage in the work among the churches to become the most accomplished and capable worker. All of these expectations are futile and should be condemned because they all come from man’s natural concept and vain imagination.
Each of us should pray earnestly to the Lord daily, asking Him to enable us to devote our effort to learn how to conduct ourselves, pursue the experience of life, and pursue the knowledge of the truth. We should also ask the Lord to make us skillful in doing things and insightful in knowing people. We must devote more of our effort in these points. As a result, we will produce a work even though we have not done very much. Conversely, if we ignore these points and concentrate all our efforts on working, our work will fail and amount to nothing.
Actually, we need to devote a great amount of effort just on learning how to conduct ourselves. As a fellow brother, I frequently go to the workers’ homes. According to my observation, the way co-workers conduct themselves is lacking in many aspects. Forgive me for saying this: they not only lack proficiency in studying the Bible but also are short in the knowledge of the truth. Furthermore, they are poor in the way they conduct themselves. They are not well-trained in knowing and evaluating people and in conducting themselves and doing things. May the Lord be merciful to us so that we could receive this word humbly.
May the Lord cover me as I say something concerning my personal testimony in this matter. Before I was saved, when I was nine years old, the Lord put me in a situation in which I needed to work in order to sustain my livelihood. While working, I learned some skills concerning how to handle matters, and I also learned how to know people. I cannot boast about this, but it truly was a help, even a great help, to me.
The Lord can testify for me that a work was produced when I was saved because I had this kind of preparation in my character. In July 1932 I was called to do the Lord’s work. At that time I had just turned twenty-seven. Before then, I never had the heart to do some kind of work; I never had such a heart inwardly. By the Lord’s mercy, however, I have been fully occupied with the work from the day I was called by the Lord. I have been occupied with an all-out effort in pursuing the truth, in reading the Bible, in studying spiritual matters, and in finding the secret of contacting others. If we do this, we will be equipped practically to know the truth and be well-trained in conducting ourselves and in doing things.