(*Translation note: or what is normal.)
- Luke 20:38 (Recite the key section) He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
When people don’t sleep, they can’t bear the sleepiness, when they don’t eat, they can’t bear the hunger, when they are sick, they can’t bear the pain, when they are hot, they can’t bear the heat, when they are cold, they can’t bear the cold. [What do you think?] Do you think that is normal or abnormal? Yes! That is ‘normal.’ People experience pain as much as they suffer. When people go beyond the norm, everything is painful. God did not create people to be able to endure even when they have crossed the limits. And He did not create people so they will bear with and endure all things. He created [everything] to work like a scale so that things are easy or difficult, good or bad, and comfortable or uncomfortable in everything people do whether they are small things or big things. People often say: “Why are [people’s] hearts so shallow and so prone to change? They respond in such exaggerated ways when anything happens.”
However, God created human beings to respond highly sensitively like a scale or a thermometer responding acutely [to changes]. By doing so, He made it so that human beings will know ‘what is good’ and ‘what is bad’, discern it on their own and take appropriate actions, and so that even when it comes to something small, they will discern if it is ‘something they should do’ and do it, or discern if it is ‘something they should not do’ and not do it. If [God] had created human beings to be dull [and insensitive] like a rock, they would fail to discern, take action recklessly, and thus, their bodies would break down right away.
Various types of machines were also made to be highly sensitive. Therefore, if they are used excessively, they will overheat and explode or break down and break. If thermometers, scales, and various types of machines are not made to be highly sensitive, they will fail to measure 100% perfectly. Even the cars and airplanes, which are solid and majestic, too – we are able to use them 100% [fully] for our purposes because they were made [and] assembled extremely meticulously. The same is true with people. Human beings were created to be so sensitive that they can feel it when even a single body hair touches their bodies or is removed from them. They were created to plan and take action 100% perfectly and cleanly. Therefore, you can live 100% perfectly and cleanly depending on how you conduct yourself.
If people had not been created to be [highly] sensitive, because they would lack sensitivity, they would take action recklessly without discernment and thus, their bodies would break down completely in less than a day. People’s hearts are so prone to change because they were created to be highly sensitive. God created people to be sensitive and have good sense so that each person will live while taking action when necessary. If we weren’t hungry even when we did not eat, our stomachs would be ruined; if we weren’t affected at all even when we did not sleep, our bodies would be ruined; and if we couldn’t feel the pain even when we got sick, our health would be destroyed. In fact, a person who is like this is not ‘someone with high tolerance’ but rather ‘someone who is insensitive’ and ‘someone who is dead to that area.’
If a thermometer’s indicator endures and remains still even when it is hot and the temperature is high, it is ‘a dead thermometer.’ If a scale’s needle endures and doesn’t move even when an object is placed on it, it is ‘a dead scale.’ People too – they should respond immediately when they feel things with their hearts, thoughts, and bodies. Then they will make adjustments so things are not too extreme, they will avoid the things they should avoid, and live doing the things they should do.
If you failed to feel the hunger and endure it, your stomach would keep producing acid and ruin your stomach, nutrition would not be supplied to your entire body and thus, it would grow weak and die. In this way, if you were so dull and insensitive that you can’t feel it even though you’ve crossed ‘the line of the norm’, problems will occur as a result of that and you will ultimately be unable to exist. In this way, if you became someone who is dull and insensitive in faith, then you will endure it well even if you don’t do the work of faith. However, as a result of that, ultimately, you will be unable to exist.
A person who can endure well even though he does not pray is ‘a person who has reached death’ because his faith is already sick and broken down. Like a person who eats because he is hungry if he does not eat for even one day and like a person who sleeps because he is sleepy if he does not sleep for even one day, a person who prays because he can’t endure it if he does not pray for even one day, is ‘a living person.’ A dead person can endure well even if he does not do what he should do. A person who can endure well even if he lives without listening to the Lord’s Word every day is a person whose faith is sick and is in [the domain] of death. A dead person can endure even when he does not eat. A person who endures well even though he does not do the various things that should be done is enduring well because his sensitivity is dead to that area.
There are people who come to church even though they don’t pray and don’t listen to the Word well. They are people who come to church only in their bodies while their souls and spirits are dead. They have to come back to life! Those who just endure and live even though they don’t give thanks and don’t communicate with the Lord are people who are dead in those areas and thus, have no hope in those areas. You have to revive them! You have to resurrect them!
People who don’t believe endure it well and live even though they don’t believe in God and the Lord. Why? Because they are dead in the domain of death. People who live believing in God and the Lord can’t bear it if they don’t believe, can’t bear it if they don’t listen to the Word, and can’t bear it if they don’t do the work they should do. Those things are ‘the responses showing that they are alive.’ A dead person cannot gain [anything] because he is dead. Only ‘the person who is alive and taking action on the things they should do’ will gain [things].
Now is the end of the year. God always takes action at the end of the year. He gives both blessings and brings judgment. If there is even a thread of sin, you should be unable to endure it but wash it away by praying and repenting. Personal things, family things, national things, world-wide things – you have to incinerate ‘the things that must surely be incinerated.’ You really have to pray. You have to listen to the Lord’s Word, focus your thoughts and sharpen them like a blade, and pray. This is a time when you must surely find out and know ‘what you are currently not doing’ and ‘what you need to repent for and incinerate,’ take action and incinerate them.