- Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do follows from it.
People’s hearts and thoughts live at ‘extremes.’ When you have a task to do, you wonder, ‘Should I do it or not?’ Actions too – live at ‘extremes.’ When you have a task to do, you do it or not do it, right? The source of the extremes is ‘the heart and thoughts.’
Human relationships are like that too. At one time you were on the extreme of being on good terms with that person but when problems or conflicts occur and your heart changes, you sometimes also change to the other extreme of being enemies. The same is true with your life of faith. Even though in the past you used to have good faith in God and the Lord and lived a good life of faith, sometimes you have a change of heart as a result of various issues and slip to the other extreme of not doing those things. Conversely, in the past you might have been on the extreme of not acknowledging and believing in God but then you might have a change of heart and live your life of faith on the other extreme of believing.
People think, ‘That person used to live a life of faith believing so well in God and the Lord for five, ten, twenty, or thirty years. How could he turn to the other extreme in an instantly and forsake his faith?’ There are two major reasons that might happen.
- First reason is: He didn’t gain anything because he failed to become completely one with the Lord and also did not live his life of faith diligently even though he did believe in and follow the Lord for a long time in the past. That is why even after believing in the Lord for a long time he tilts toward an extreme and forsakes his faith in an instant.
- Second, they do that because as they face certain things as they live their lives of faith, they get upset, angry, or enraged. So they throw away everything of the past, the things they gained, the life of joy they lived, etc., think only about their present hardships, difficulties, and injustices, and their thoughts changed that way due to their brains operating that way.
People’s hearts, thoughts, and bodies are at ‘extremes’ according to what they encounter, experience, and feel at each moment. They decide according to [the condition of] their hearts and thoughts of that moment. Therefore, they will flip to ‘an extreme.’ When the wind and rain storms pass, sunny times will come. However, he thought only about the hardships of the present and took action with his flipped heart.
When a person, who used to live at one extreme flips to the other extreme, he changes truly ferociously. He will even become an enemy to those he used to love so much before, throw away everything he gained until then, dislike the Lord and forsake him even after believing in and following him, come to dislike both salvation and Heaven and so leaves God’s domain. That is why it was said “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.”
When it comes to things having to do with the world, if you used to live in the east but change to the west because you find it hard, you can keep on living if you pioneer again while living in that extreme. However, things having to do with faith are different.
If you used to live on the extreme of believing in and loving God and the Lord but get out of there, you have no choice but to go to the extreme of [the domain of] death. Over there, you cannot pioneer a life of salvation again. Therefore, the Will that God set for that person will shatter and the merits that person built up by taking action until then will crumble. When a person falls for temptations, gets tested, is discouraged as a result of failing to do his mission, or faces hardships and difficulties for an instant, at that moment, his heart and thoughts will leave the domain of God that he used to follow in order to escape that suffering. And he will go according to whatever he has decided. Even though he escaped the suffering for that instant, he has gotten off the eternal path. At times like that, rather than leaving and going to the other extreme, you must get out of suffering by solving the problem with the Holy Spirit and the Lord within God’s domain.
Anyone traveling a path does it with ‘a purpose.’ However, if he gets off that path along the way because it is difficult, then from that moment on, he cannot go to his destination.
If you fell along the way, you should get up and rest before going forward; if you are tired, you should move on after resting for a short time; if the path is rough, you should take only a slight detour. You must not get off that path altogether. The world of faith is like that too. You must not leave the path the original path you were traveling to your destination in order to get escape a temporary treacherous path that you come upon or a short wind and rain storm that come upon you. If you whip around and don’t believe in God and the Lord because you have a hard time believing for an instant, whip around and turn your back to them just because you misunderstand or doubt for an instant, turn your back to God and the Lord and leave because you are angry or having a hard time, turn your back to God and the Lord and leave because you fought with your brothers, and leave God and the Lord and go to a different world in order to solve the suffering of an instant because you feel you were wronged, all of God’s work and love for you in the past will disappear and you will even throw away the things you have received until then. You will be unable to receive in that place the things God planned for the future.
Those who go all the way to the end even if things are difficult and hard, will gain the eternal things that God, the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Son planned [for them]. There are tribulations and persecutions, hardships and suffering, and temptations, while traveling the path of faith and the path of salvation. Would it be okay for you to go to the extremes and turn your back on faith, forsake the Lord, and forsake salvation and Heaven?
People’s brain cells get easily upset. Their thoughts flip easily. They flip easily even at a trivial thing. Everyone, I hope that knowing this, you will live entrusting your thoughts to the Holy Spirit and the Lord. A person leaving God’s domain once and then returning is a miracle like a dead person coming back to life. Just because you go through a hardship, difficulty, or lonely time or just because there are tribulations and persecution, or just because you are being tempted; do not deviate from God’s domain and go to ‘an extreme.’ Instead, I pray you will call on the Holy Spirit and the Lord and do things together with them within God.