The host (Qianxun): I’m grateful that God prepares us another chance to openly fellowship with each other.
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The host (Xiangguang): The Lord Jesus once said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). No matter what difficulties or confusion we have, I believe that God will guide and lead us as long as we have a heart of seeking humbly and longing for the truth. I’d like all of us to come before God with a lowly and yearning heart, to seek God’s intention and to find the path toward resolution. Next, let’s receive the hotline call and listen to what kind of questions our friends in the audience will raise.
The seeker: Hello, host. This is Kemu. There is a question that has been troubling me for very long but has still not been resolved. Today, I want to use this chance to seek fellowship with brothers and sisters.
My partner Jenny and I coordinated in doing the church’s work together. At the beginning, we got along well with each other. However, recently we were often unhappy because when we had different opinions or practices, we each held to our opinions. Therefore, my heart became awfully choked for this. I remember the Lord said: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20–21). It is also spoken of in another verse: “For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us” (Ephesians 2:14). From these scriptures, we see that God is unwilling to see we are divided in our opinions, become independent and estranged from each other, but hopes that we can unite and cooperate harmoniously with each other. Though I wanted to act on the basis of God’s will and didn’t want to have misunderstanding between us, yet when we had different opinions, I still thought my idea was correct and was unwilling to accept her advice. This led to our inharmonious coordination, as well as caused the work couldn’t go ahead and that our conditions were also influenced. For this reason, I feel very distressed, and want to find the way to practice as soon as possible in order to cooperate in service harmoniously with the sister. Today I hope to get brothers and sisters’ help.
The host (Qianxun): Sister Kemu, the question you raised is the tough question that many people will run into. When we coordinate with others in work, we often experience friction with them and can’t be one because we are all always pigheaded and unwilling to accept others’ opinions. If we want to resolve this problem, we should firstly find out what frustrates our oneness. As the root of the problem is discovered, the difficult problem will be solved easily.
In the past, I saw such a passage of words on a website: “Don’t be self-righteous; take the strengths of others and use them to offset your own deficiencies, watch how others live by God’s words and see whether or not their lives, actions and speech is worth learning from. If you regard others as less than you then you are self-righteous, self-conceited and are of benefit to no one”.
From the words, we see the reason why we can’t cooperate harmoniously with others is because of our corrupt dispositions. We are deeply corrupted by Satan, so no matter how high or poor our calibers are, and no matter how much truth we understand, everyone’s nature is all arrogance and ego. We have become accustomed to being self-centered, using the word “I” at the beginning of what we say and do, for example, “I suppose…, I feel…, I think….” When we live on the basis of arrogant dispositions, we always think our opinions are right and that naturally others should obey us. If they air different opinions, we will resist and not obey in our hearts. Even though we don’t say anything or argue with others, in our hearts we are against them. Because we live in the corrupt dispositions, then our conditions will get bad to a low point, our spirits will be in darkness, we will lose God’s presence and thus the work won’t go ahead. We see our living according to the corrupt dispositions of Satan brings to ourselves and others the stress and pain.
The host (Xiangguang): Yes. If we want to cooperate harmoniously with others and be one with them, we have to betray our satanic dispositions and should no more be arrogant, self-righteous and opinionated.
Just as it was recorded in the Bible: “Thus said the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high” (Ezekiel 21:26). God teaches us to be a person who is willing to be humble. The humbler he is, the nobler he is in God’s eyes. That’s because such a person is rational. Therefore, relinquishing ourselves, being humble, discussing and communicating with others and listening to others’ suggestions are the prerequisites for our harmonious cooperation.
The seeker: Oh, I understand a little from your fellowship. I was indeed self-centered at ordinary times. I always used my ideas and practices to measure the things. Therefore, when others’ opinions were different from mine, I began to resist and reject them. The dispositions I expressed were arrogance and ego. No wonder that I couldn’t cooperate harmoniously with my partner.
The host (Qianxun): Thank God. Sister Kemu, we are happy that you could get such understanding. If we get sick, we should find the cause of illness. Only in this way can we suit the remedy to the case. So do our conditions in spirit. Only by finding the cause of our trouble can we find the way to solve the problem. We need to seek the truth more in the future, to change our corrupt dispositions of Satan, to act according to God’s will and to be the humble who please God. Only in this way can we obtain God’s blessings and cooperate harmoniously with our partners.
The host (Xiangguang): Sister Kemu, if we want to cooperate harmoniously with others, for one thing, we need to let go of our own arrogance and ego and be humble; for another, we need to have a heart of seeking humbly. No matter whom we cooperate with or whether we understand the opinions he rises or not, we should come before God to pray and seek whether his opinion is correct or not, and see what we should do to satisfy God’s intention. God’s words say: “At times, when coordinating to fulfill their duties, two people have a dispute over a matter of principle. They have different viewpoints and they develop different opinions. What can be done in that case? Is that an issue that occurs frequently? This is a normal phenomenon. It’s because there are differences between everyone’s minds, calibers, insights, ages, and experiences. In addition, it’s impossible that the things in two people’s brains will be the same, so it’s a very common phenomenon that they develop different opinions and different views. This is extremely commonplace and you shouldn’t make a fuss over it. The critical issue is how you should coordinate and how you should seek to achieve unity in front of God, and have a unified opinion when you encounter this kind of issue. What is the goal of having a unified opinion? It’s seeking the principles of the truth regarding this matter and not acting according to your intentions or according to someone else’s intentions, but seeking the intentions of God together. This is the way of achieving harmonious coordination. Only when you seek out what God’s intentions are and what the principles that God requires are will you be able to achieve unity” (“On Harmonious Coordination”).
God’s words show the way to practice to us: When we cooperate with each other in doing the church’s work, we shouldn’t stress who should obey whom. We should obey others not on the basis of age, status or seniority. What’s more, we shouldn’t delineate who speaks correctly or who speaks incorrectly. Even though we think the thing is certainly right, we shouldn’t delineate or hold on to it, because we are not the truth and don’t possess the truth. Hence, we all should come before God, with pious attitude, pray and seek God’s intentions together, and then practice according to God’s requirements. Then, we can achieve unity before God. When we can cooperate harmoniously with each other, we can naturally attain God’s blessings and the work can also produce a good effect. More importantly, we can get released in our spirits, be at peace and feel enjoyment at the bottom of our heart.
The host (Qianxun): When we find other’s opinions conform to God’s intention more after seeking the truth and principles, we need to betray our arrogant disposition, learn to let go of ourselves and say on our own initiative: “Sister (Brother), your view conforms to God’s intention more, mine is indeed improper, so we practice according to yours.” If the view of partners doesn’t conform to God’s intention, we can’t force them to do things in accordance with ours. Instead, we should calm down to pray to God, then fellowship about God’s words with them out of love to help them understand God’s intention, and finally come to an agreement with them. In a word, no matter what, we should stand on God’s side, seek God’s will in His words and practice on the basis of God’s intention and demands in all things. In this way, our deeds will be one before God and this is true harmonious cooperation.
The seeker: Thank God, I feel considerably brightened within after hearing your fellowship. I know no matter whom I cooperate with in doing the church’s work, I should not hold to my own opinions and not treat my opinions as the truth to ask others to obey either. Rather, I should pray to God and seek the truth and principle together with my partner. Only God’s words and intentions are our standard for obeying. In addition, only by acting according to God’s will and being one before God can we achieve true harmony in partnership with others. I reap a lot today.
The host (Qianxun): That’s right. As Christians, no matter what we do, we should come before God to pray and seek, and act according to God’s words, which are our principles of acting and being a person. If we practice like this, we can cooperate harmoniously with one will and be blessed by God.
The seeker: Thank God. It’s great. I have the way to cooperate harmoniously with my partner.
The host (Xiangguang): Thank God! This is God’s blessing. All the glory be to God!
The host (Qianxun): Thank God.
Source from: Internet
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