In today’s society, each of us performs our own role and comes into contact with a variety of people. In this large environment, our interpersonal relationships are as complex as a spiderweb and as abstruse as an academic research.
We constantly feel like we are walking a tightrope, dealing gingerly with our children, classmates, families, our husband or wife, mother-in-law, or daughter-in-law, our friends, and colleagues. Although we do our utmost to maintain this vast web of human connections, inevitably it often reaches a deadlock due to some trivial matters.
A sweet or a toy can be the reason for children to bicker endlessly with each other; a pencil or an eraser can set off a heated quarrel among classmates. Family members are likely to get into a tiff, even to the extent of overturning the table and stalking off when the food is too salty or too light or not to their liking. Dissension arises between wife and husband over such trifles as: where to eat, where to have fun, whether or not to turn over socks before washing them, whether to leave the toilet seat up or down. But whose word should be taken? Whose word is reasonable? To try to win credit, they exchange hard words, or get started a cold war.
Similarly, mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law are easy to take a dislike to each other. When a daughter-in-law throws away something not in use of the house, her mother-in-law will grumble that she is wasteful and not good at running a household. But her daughter-in-law is fed up with such grumbles and think her mother-in-law interferes too much in her. Among friends, a harmless joke may arouse misunderstanding and cause them to drift apart. In addition, the colleagues may have a jealous heart toward one another when their employer thinks highly of others instead of themselves.
Everyone has to involuntarily confront these trivial and complex chains of relationships. All of this is like an invisible rope that has bound generation after generation, including you, including me and including others, but nobody is able to break free from it.
I can’t help but ask myself: Why do we live such an exhausting life? Why do people suspect and struggle among themselves? Later, I remember a passage of God’s word.
God says: “Cruel, brutal mankind! The conniving and intrigue, the jostling with each other, the scramble for reputation and fortune, the mutual slaughter—when will it ever end? God has spoken hundreds of thousands of words, yet no one has come to their senses” (“The Wicked Must Be Punished”). From God’s words, I know that the only reason why man’s life is so tiresome and why they have no normal interpersonal relationship among themselves is that they pay no attention to God’s words. And then they live in Satan’s bondage doing anything that serves their interests, scrambling for reputation and fortune, and have no likeness of real humans. So how can man live easily and happily? And how can man live out the manner of a true person? God’s words give us the answer.
God says: “When man achieves the true life of man on earth, the entire forces of Satan will be bound, and man will live easily upon earth. Things will not be as complex as they are today: Human relationships, social relationships, complex familial relationships…, they are such bother, so painful! Man’s life here is so miserable! Once man has been conquered, his heart and mind will change: He will have a heart that reveres God and a heart that loves God. Once all those within the universe who seek to love God have been conquered, which is to say, once Satan has been defeated, and once Satan—all the forces of darkness—has been bound, then man’s life on earth will be untroubled, and he will be able to live freely upon earth. If man’s life is without the fleshly relationships, and is without the complexities of the flesh, then it would be so much easier. Man’s relationships of the flesh are too complex, and for man to have such things is proof that he has yet to free himself of the influence of Satan. If you had the same relationship with the brothers and sisters, if you had the same relationship with your regular family, then you would have no concerns, and would not need to worry about anyone. Nothing could be better, and in this way man would be relieved of half of his suffering. Living a normal human life on earth, man will be similar to an angel; though still being of the flesh, he will be much like an angel. This is the final promise, it is the last promise that is bestowed upon man” (“Restoring the Normal Life of Man and Taking Him to a Wonderful Destination”). From God’s words, I come to understand that only by accepting God’s work of the last days and living under the guidance of His words, can we rid ourselves of Satan’s influence of darkness step by step, and ultimately live in the light of God’s word and enjoy the new life granted by God.
