The answer from God’s word:
“Many people say, ‘I believe in God just by following like this and I will surely make it. I do not pursue the truth and I just follow to the end finally, and in performing my duty, I spend and give up as much as I can; even if I have some transgressions, I can make it.’ They do not know what they are saying. There are so many corrupt things within man; how can man be transformed without pursuing the truth? Judging from the degree of man’s corruption, without God’s keeping, man will fall and betray God and leave at any time. Do you believe it? You cannot walk to the end even if you force yourself to. For the last stage is to make a group of overcomers. Is it so simple as you imagine? You are not required to be transformed one hundred percent or eighty percent in the end; at the very least you need to be transformed thirty percent or forty percent; at least the deep-rooted things in your inner heart have to be dug out and be transformed. If you can meet thirty percent or forty percent of God’s requirement, or at best can meet sixty or seventy percent of it, it shows that you have some truths within and have some elements compatible with God, and when you encounter things then, you will not easily resist God or offend God’s disposition. Only then can you be perfected and approved. Some people always think: Believing in God just means to have meetings, sing hymns, listen to God’s words, say prayers, and perform duties when you are asked to. Isn’t that so? Now, no matter how many years you have believed, you still have not seen clearly the significance of believing in God. Actually, the significance of believing in God is extremely deep and man cannot fully figure it out. In the end, some things in a man that are of Satan or of his nature must be transformed and can be compatible with what the truth requires. Only this means that he is truly saved. If you are still the same as you were in religion and just shout some letters and doctrines and some slogans and have some deeds and good practices, that is, you no longer do certain sinful things or commit those obvious sins, it still does not mean that you have entered the right track of believing in God. Does it mean that you have taken the right way when you can observe regulations? Does it mean that you have made a right choice? If the things in your nature are not transformed, finally you will still resist God, and still offend God. This is the biggest problem. If this problem is not solved in your believing in God, can you be considered as having been saved? What do I mean by saying so? I just want you to understand in your heart that believing in God, you cannot leave God’s word, cannot leave God, and cannot leave the truth. And you should take the right way, exert efforts on the truth, and exert efforts on God’s word. Do not be contented with a half-baked knowledge or be satisfied with a general understanding. Deceiving yourself can only ruin yourself.”
from “Those Who Have Lost the Work of the Holy Spirit Are Most at Risk” in Records of Christ’s Talks With Leaders and Workers of the Church
“Some people say, ‘In believing in God, I won’t miss the church life, won’t miss performing my duty, preaching the gospel, or reading God’s word, and won’t miss my spiritual living. Isn’t that enough? Is there any need to pursue the truth? I do not commit sins at ordinary times, do not resist God, and do not act as an antichrist, and I also stay away from the wicked. I do not need to pursue the truth. I just need some simple regulations from God’s word to guide and help me, and I do not need to pursue too deep truths.’ Do you think this viewpoint is right? Not right! What is wrong with it? Someone says this is because only if one gains the truth can he gain everything and be saved and blessed by God. This viewpoint is right. Now some people have had some faint awareness in their heart, realizing that the truth is too important to man’s being saved. They have had this little bit of awareness. But can this awareness take roots within them? That depends on how you pursue in future. Now you have this awareness and realize that it is very important to pursue the truth. This is a good thing. The truth is indeed very important to man’s being saved. For example, when you are passive or weak, can you become strong without being sustained by the truth? Can you overcome your weakness? Can you realize and dissect the cause of your being weak and passive? Certainly not! Take another example, when you are perfunctory and careless in performing your duty, can you solve your corruption of this aspect without seeking the truth? Can you be faithful to God? If one wants to know himself and solve his corruption and arrogance, can he make it without seeking the truth? Man always has notions about God and always measures God by his notions and imaginations; can these be solved without the truth? These definitely cannot be solved. When you encounter many things, including matters of living, if you do not have the truth, and do not seek the truth, much less understand the truth, not knowing what God says about them or what truth God speaks about and what His will is in these aspects, then how will you face the matters that happen around you? The better ones may deal with them by some letters they have known at ordinary times, by some regulations they have learned at ordinary times, or by some human methods they have learned. Can these substitute for solving problems with the truth? They cannot, right? If you do not seek the truth, it can be said that, in each matter of your life, you have no principles, have no way to go, much less have a goal or a direction. If this is the case, you are resisting God and rebelling against God in doing everything in your life. Since you are resisting and rebelling against God, everything you do will be cursed and loathed by God and will be judged and chastised by God.”
from “The Importance and the Way of Pursuing the Truth” in God’s Fellowship and Preaching
“Only by seeking the truth can you obtain changes in your disposition: This is something you must understand and understand thoroughly. If you do not understand the truth enough, you will easily slip up and go astray. … If you really understand the truth about the life of man, if you understand the truth of what kind of person to be, how to be an aboveboard and straightforward person, an honest person, how to be someone who bears witness for God and serves Him, then you can never again do evil things that defy God or play the role of an antichrist or a false shepherd. Even if someone were to entice you, you still couldn’t do it; even if they forced you, you still couldn’t act that way. This is because you have the truth inside you, you are able to loathe evil, to feel disgust within for negative things, and it would be difficult to do these things, because your disposition has changed. If you really have the truth within you, the path you walk will naturally be the correct path. Without the truth, it is easy to do evil and you would not be able to help yourself. For example, if you have arrogance and conceit inside you, it will be impossible to not defy God, but instead you would be made to defy Him. You wouldn’t do it on purpose; you would do it under the domination of your arrogant and conceited nature. Your arrogance and conceitedness would make you look down on God, it would make you see God as being of no account, it would make you exalt yourself, it would make you constantly put yourself on display and finally it would make you sit in God’s place and bear witness for yourself. In the end you would make your own ideas, your own thinking and your own conceptions into truths to be worshiped. See how much evil is done by people under the dominance of their arrogant and conceited nature! To resolve man’s doing of evil, one must first resolve the problem of their nature. Without a change in disposition, it is not possible to fundamentally resolve this problem. When you have some understanding of God, when you can see man’s corruption and recognize the arrogance and conceit that is contemptible and ugly, you will then feel disgusted, sickened and distressed. You will be able to consciously do some things to satisfy God and in doing this will feel a sureness of mind. You will be able to consciously bear witness for God and in doing this will feel enjoyment. You will consciously unmask yourself and shine a light on your own ugliness, and by doing this you will feel well within yourself and your state of mind will be bettered. So the first step to seeking a change in your disposition is to seek to understand God’s word and to enter into the truth. Only by understanding the truth can you have discernment; only with discernment can you understand things thoroughly; only by understanding things thoroughly can you forsake the flesh and, step by step, you will walk the right track of belief in God. This is connected with how resolute man is when seeking the truth. If someone has a true resolution, after six months or a year they will begin to enter onto the right track, they will see results within three or five years, and they will feel that they are making progress in life. If you believe in God but do not seek the truth, then you can believe for 10 years and not experience any change, in the end saying, ‘Believing in God is like this, there is no great meaning to it; it is pretty much the same as my life in the world before. There is no interest in living.’ This really shows that without the truth, life is empty. You may be able to speak some words of doctrine, but you will still feel uncomforted and unsure. If you have some understanding about God, if you know how to live a meaningful life, if you can do some things that satisfy God, then you will feel that this is real life, that only by living in this way does your life have meaning, that one must live in this way to be able to satisfy God a little and to feel sure of heart.”
from “Only by Seeking the Truth Can You Obtain Changes in Your Disposition” in Records of Christ’s Talks With Leaders and Workers of the Church
