- 2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
Even after a person knows and realizes that ‘something is good’ and ‘the correct path,’ and even after a person sets his mind and vows to live according to the Word and says he will make sure to do well and do things correctly, because he cannot do as he set his mind to do when he faces reality, he ends up being unable to take action because his heart changes and his thoughts change. When your thoughts crumble, [you] will crumble without being able to even take action.
Even then, you must not crash but do it again from that spot. Even after you chose a particular path because you* liked it, were satisfied with it and were traveling on it, you will change. (*Translation note: This is about what happens to people in general.) Even though you were someone who really liked something and rejoiced over it, your heart grows cold.
That happens because you do not keep working diligently. Or it happens because others don’t understand your heart. At times like that you have to let the Lord know about you by telling him your heart. You have to also let God know by telling Him. You have to also let the Holy Spirit know by telling Her.
Sometimes your thoughts change when you encounter something better than what you chose. In this way, people’s hearts change and grow cold ‘due to various issues.’ People’s hearts are really prone to constantly change. You, yourself have a hard time controlling it even though it is your heart and thoughts. You can’t guarantee it even though it is your heart and thoughts. The things you chose in the past with immature thoughts are not satisfactory when you look at them again after you have matured. The things you chose when you matured and when you are at a high level are great and you will be satisfied with them. Therefore, you should entrust God even with this choice and first mature with ‘His wisdom and knowledge’ and mature for ‘God’s Will.’ Then when the time comes, God will choose for you in regards to life and everything else. Then even after time passes you will have no regrets and your heart will not change either.
You cannot find ‘the artwork that God sees’ with the level of knowledge a person has learned and you cannot find ‘an artwork of a life’ with the level of knowledge a person has learned. Therefore, when handling or dealing with people, you have to handle them and deal with them while earnestly petitioning and asking God about them. Only then will you properly recognize ‘a valuable person.’ You too – I urge you to ask [God] about ‘what type of an artwork’ you are. When you look at newly evangelized lives for the first time, they seem ordinary and plain. However, in the eyes of God, that person is ‘a precious person.’
All people are ‘precious in their individuality.’ They are precious artwork lives who cannot be found again if you try to find such lives again. It is the rule that – if you have received something God gave you, you should look at it while thinking about God. The lives God gave us as a result of praying too – you have to raise them well and manage them well while keeping God in mind.
Whether they are people or artworks, if you don’t hear the backstory from God from His level, you will not know why they are valuable from God’s point of view and you will not know the reason they are great. There are artworks [God] gives us because people like them and there are artworks [God] gives us out of love for us because they are artworks when seen from God’s level even though people may not know that. Even the owner of God’s level artwork has no idea about it and does not recognize it. Indeed, people see things according to ‘the level of their intellect and their thoughts.’ God’s history was like that too, right? The Jewish religious people who were in the Old Testament Law saw ‘Jesus the Messiah’ according to the level of their own thoughts. Therefore, they saw him as a cult, the anti-Christ, and a sinner, and failed to see him correctly. At this Jesus said: “The stone that the builders discarded has become the cornerstone.” He used the parable of ‘the builders’ to describe the Jewish religious experts living under the Law and used the cornerstone as a parable for ‘Jesus.’ In this way, even experts couldn’t see. Even though they were ‘experts in the Law,’ they failed to recognize ‘the Messiah’ sent by God and rejected him. Even if a person looks at something in great detail, he will see it only from the vantage point of a person. You have to earnestly ask God. Only then will you gain something that is above the level of a person. The same is true when dealing with people. When dealing with people, you have to make sure to look at them from God’s level while truly praying and earnestly asking. Then you will not make mistakes.
If you want to gain something good, you have to select from among many choices by examining them over and over again and looking for them over and over again. God surely picks and chooses from among many people. When you look at Matthew 22:1 on, even at the time of the wedding banquet of the king’s son, not everyone was chosen.
There were separate people who were invited. However, the people who were invited did not come. At that, the king told his people to invite anyone to come and held the banquet with those who attended. However, among the attendees were people who were not properly dressed. The king refused to let those who were not properly dressed to participate in the banquet. [The Bible] says, therefore, that many ‘are invited’ but few ‘are chosen.’ This was a parable told about ‘God’s new history.’ This is a time period in which we live together with the Trinity and live becoming the Trinity’s counterparts of love.
When running a business, when doing any kind of work, and when choosing lives – you have to ‘choose’ well from among many things and many people. If you want to gain good things and gain good lives, you have to really earnestly ask God and choose at God’s level.’ Whatever it is, you have to ‘choose’ well. Even as you are living a day, a week, a month, and a year, living a lifetime – every day you have to ‘choose’ well what you will think and what you will take action on. Then you will live ‘an artwork life’ without regrets.