By Wang Hui
We often live in our notions and imaginations, which can give us wonderful hope or become the motivation of our life. However, living by our notions and imaginations can cause us serious consequences when they don’t line up with the reality.
I have heard such a story: Once there was an old couple and they had two children. The man went overseas to work when their children were very young. And he became very rich. The woman often told her children about their father. Eventually, her children had images in their minds of what their father was like. After the woman passed away, the man returned home. In order to see whether his two sons would treat him with their true hearts, the man went to their houses wearing ragged clothes. He first went to his eldest son’s house. The eldest son saw that the man didn’t look like his father that he had imagined, so he thought that the man was not his father and drove him out of his house. Then, the man went to his younger son’s house. The younger son felt the same as his brother. However, he did not chase the man out, but through getting to know him, he realized that the man was his father his mother often told him about. So he took very good care of him. The man saw that his younger son treated him with his true heart, so he gave all his wealth to him. The eldest son greatly regretted his actions after knowing that. Weeping bitterly, he went to his father to apologize. However, the man shook his head and said, “It’s too late!”
After reading this story, you may feel sorry for the eldest son. When the man was standing at his door, he refused him and shut the door on him due to his imaginations. Eventually he was filled with bitter regret. This shows us that our notions and imaginations are too harmful. At the moment, I can’t help thinking of the time when the Lord Jesus came to do His work. Wasn’t it because of their notions and imaginations that the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees opposed the work of the Lord Jesus? Because God’s work was incompatible with their imaginations, that is, because they held on to the views of “impossible,” such as the Messiah couldn’t possibly be called Jesus or preach outside the temple when He came, much less be born in a manger, etc., they opposed God—nailed the Lord Jesus who came to redeem mankind to the cross, committing a heinous crime. Consequently, the entirety of Israel was subjected to destruction.
Today, two thousand years later, all Christians are looking forward to the return of the Lord Jesus. But they have committed the same mistake, that is, they also use their notions and imaginations to define God. Some insist that God cannot work in China and should work in Israel; others think that God cannot come in flesh and should come upon a white cloud in a spiritual body; and so forth. These notions and imaginations severely hinder people from investigating God’s work, and make them shut the door on God’s salvation time and again. Jehovah God said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). And the word of Almighty God says, “ Put aside your view of “impossible”! The more that people believe something is impossible, the more likely it is to occur, for the wisdom of God soars higher than the heavens, God’s thoughts are higher than man’s thoughts, and the work of God transcends the limits of man’s thinking and conception. The more that something is impossible, the more there is the truth to be sought; the more that something is beyond the conception and imagination of man, the more it contains the will of God.” (“The Appearance of God Has Brought a New Age” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
From God’s words, we can see that God’s thoughts soar higher than the heavens. We can never fathom His thoughts, much less can we measure how He will work by our notions and imaginations. God cannot possibly do His work according to our notions, for man’s notions and imagination are Satan’s schemes. If we always live in our notions and imaginations, we will make the same mistake as the Pharisees—nailing God to the cross. Only if we put aside our notions and imaginations, seek and investigate God’s work, can we witness God’s appearance and welcome the Lord’s return. Otherwise, we will lose the chance to be saved. Just as Almighty God says, “The return of Jesus is a great salvation for those who are capable of accepting the truth, but for those who are unable to accept the truth it is a sign of condemnation. You should choose your own path, and should not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and reject the truth. You should not be an ignorant and arrogant person, but someone who obeys the guidance of the Holy Spirit and longs for and seeks the truth; only in this way will you benefit.” (“When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
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