Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 170

Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 6: True Creation
Chapter 3: The Creation's Lament and True Stewardship
Section 4: Our Attitude Toward the Creation, 11
Section 5: Restoration of the Original Eden, 06

(11)  In order to survive, human beings need air, water, sunlight, and soil. We, therefore, must be grateful for these things. Even when we release something dirty into the air, it eventually falls to the ground. Therefore, we need to protect the earth and fertilize the land. When we provide fertilizer to the earth, seeds of life emerge there. A mother is like the earth; she always takes care of the dirty things at home.  The members of the family rely on the mother for cleanliness. In contrast, men, in the process of initiating things, often ignore the value of the earth and just randomly stomp on it.

Protecting and loving nature

(12)  When you love nature and protect it, your behavior becomes a model for how to love people. Children are the same. They learn how to love people by playing with their toys and loving their pets. Those who live like that with nature often go to a higher level of spirit world than those who lead a religious life because they have reached a higher level of heart. When you reach your seventies or eighties you had better go back to nature. When your memory grows dim and your physical body becomes weaker, you had better go live in nature. Living among all the natural things created by God, loving them, and managing them as their master, you will be able to go to a higher level of heart, the kingdom of heaven.

(13)  In the garden where people of true love and husband and wife of true love are living, beautiful flowers want to blossom, and lovely birds and beautiful animals want to come and live close by. You should understand that their original nature drives them to do this. All things naturally follow such people, who are destined to prosper.

(14)  We have to go back to nature, live there, and love all the things of God’s creation. When we feel the heart of God, who created the soil, water, plants, and animals for us, we inherit all the things that belong to Heavenly Father. By doing so, we return joy and glory to the original heart of God, Creator of all these things.  For instance, we harvest the grains that we grow through our year-round toil, and during the winter, we rest. Year after year we gather the harvest, offer it to God, and return glory to Him, as we do on Thanksgiving Day. When spring comes the next year, we begin again. When we live this way, based on a desire to return glory to God, God will bless us and we will prosper.

(15)  God is working to save humankind. If God is a big tree we, as the branches, should resemble the tree. Therefore, we must assist God in His work and help Him find lost humankind. So wherever you go, east or west, you should foster loving relationships with people. Those who don't know how to love other people don't know how to love nature. Also, people who don't know how to love nature cannot truly like others. Saving humankind is God's work. However, we should be able to love people and nature, living with God’s love in our hearts. Liking something is not enough. We need to live in love.

(16)  You should know how to love nature and love people. Those who cannot love people or love nature cannot truly love God. Because all things of creation are symbols of God, and people are beings of His substance, those who learn to love all things of creation and to love people will come to love God.

(17)  When you love the mountains, love water, and love all things of creation on God’s behalf, everything will be fine; you will be healthy. These are the three conditions. That is why I chose the name Sansuwon, "the garden of mountains and waters" for our hiking club. I like mountains and often go where there are beautiful mountains and water. We need to love the creation on behalf of God. We also need to love the ocean. By loving all things of creation, we can become their loving master. The person who loves something most is its owner; this is the unmistakable conclusion.

(18)  When you love all things on earth on behalf of God, you will naturally receive as much love from God as you give to the things of creation. This is why you need to love the creation. By loving all things of creation and by loving people, you are entitled to receive God’s love. Those who dedicate their lives to loving the world, the universe, and all humankind, who love these more than they love their own lives, will naturally receive the same amount of love from God.

Section 5.  Restoration of the Original Eden

(1)  Whenever we think about the original garden of Eden before the Fall, we immediately think about God. Then we associate it with Adam and Eve, whom God blessed after He finished His six days of creation. The garden of Eden was home to our original, sinless ancestors and all things of creation, which had not been invaded by evil or sin. All things were created for human beings and human beings were created for God. Sadly, human beings have not lived for God and, as a consequence, all things of creation have been unable to harmonize with us.  Because of this, when we think of the garden of Eden we feel profoundly sad and sorrowful; our mind and body are pervaded with the feeling of how everything has been mistreated.

God's heart dwells in all created things

(2)  We should not look at the things of creation with a hollow heart. Since every being in this world of God’s great creation lives and moves based on the purpose of one love, God’s energy indwells even the tiniest, most insignificant being. God created all things in six biblical days. Yet even the beings He created on the first and second days were related to God’s larger vision of the great universe that would appear after the six days of His creation were completed. From this, we can firmly conclude that nothing was created without being deeply rooted in God’s heart.

(3)  We value the relics left behind by famous people in history. We value the items they cherished during their lifetimes. But if a single grain of sand falls in front of you, you should realize that it is connected to God’s heart. It is the work of the Creator, who is higher and greater than anyone else, made lovingly with His own hands. It is the fruit of His heart. Anyone who understands its worth and treats a grain of sand as if it were as valuable as the entire universe is certainly a son or daughter of God.

(4)  In a field, no single blade of grass is untouched by the hand of God. When we look at a tree, we can see God’s unlimited inner heart growing and flowing through that tree. Not only the grass and trees, but the animals playing in the fields, the insects, and every kind of bird—they were all created by the hands of God who invested His inner heart completely.

(5)  How should we think about all the things that God created and loved so much? God created all things and said, "This is good to behold!" But we should consider if God loved a blade of grass the most, which kind of grass would He love best? If you could think about this without any time constraints, you would feel the grace of God’s heart as He created all things, before the creation of human beings. Holding a single blade of grass, you would feel joy in your heart, realizing that it was an object of hope and that it had been created by God’s hand. If there were someone like that, even a fallen person, who shared God’s heart at the time of creation, he or she could be God’s friend.

(6)  From among the people who revere God’s heart, await God’s ideal, and seek His restored garden, there are many people of true heart who sing God's praises and strive to attain divine joy. Yet few remember that God's inner heart is connected to every blade of grass, every insect, and all things of creation and that He feels joy through them. If someone invested all his energy to make an insect, and someone else loved and appreciated it with all his heart and mind, more highly than even its creator, nothing would delight the creator more.