Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 82

Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 3: True Love
Chapter 3: The Practice of True Love
Section 2: The Practice of True love, 55-72

55 Have you ever considered that God wants you to be a filial child in your family, a patriot for your nation, a saint for the world, and a divine son or daughter before heaven and earth? Looking at history, all the main founders of religion taught people to be filial children and also to become patriots, saints, and divine sons and daughters. Religions that did not teach this have not survived. It is your destiny as human beings to become such people. Destiny concerns what cannot be changed, such as the relationship between parents and children. Fortune, on the other hand, refers to things that you can change. You can change your fortune, but you cannot change your destiny.

56 You can be victorious only when you go the way of the Will with the title of a devoted son or daughter in front of God. You have to become the princes and princesses who are obedient to God and committed to take responsibility for the six-thousand-year history of sin and evil. Just as Jesus set the standard of a devoted, filial son when he said, "yet not what I want but what you want" (Matt.  26:39), you should also set the standard of a filial child and say, "In the end, Satan surrendered to me." Only then can you enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In this way, you will become the ancestors of the Word, the ancestors of substance, the ancestors of heart, the ancestors of obedience, and the ancestors of lineage.

57 A filial son will disregard himself, his wife, and his children in order to follow his parents.  Such is the path of a filial son. The path that we walk is the path of the Will, and the path of the Will that we walk is the path of love. To love is to place the greater good ahead of oneself. This is why the way of the Will is the way of love.

58 A filial child is someone who is faithful to his or her parents, out of love for them. A patriot is someone who loves his or her country, and a saint—that is, a world-level saint—is someone who loves the world. Divine sons and daughters are people who love and uphold the authority of the Palace in the heavenly kingdom. Hence, as people who hold the Will in your heart, if you follow the way of the Will with the hope that you will be respected by all the people of the world and that your names will be known throughout the world for upholding the Will, then you must become warriors who can shine more than anyone else on the path of suffering.

59 For the sake of his nation, a patriot will sell his land. He will sell his cows and pigs. He will continue in this way even if it means that he cannot afford to send his sons and daughters to school. A patriot's way is to fight for his country at the sacrifice of his flesh and blood. He does so for the sake of his descendants.

60 A patriot is ready to sacrifice his or her family, relatives, and tribe for the sake of the nation. A faithful wife is ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of her husband, and a filial son sacrifices himself for his parents. Sacrifice is the basic principle—sacrifice for the sake of goodness. Sacrifice means denying oneself. Perfect sacrifice is total self-denial.

61 For citizens of a nation, the way of truth is to serve the leader of the nation with unchanging devotion. This is the way of a patriot. As we are citizens, we need to go the way of patriots. For members of the human race, the way of truth is to go the way of a world-level saint. As we are members of the human race, we need to go the way of world-level saints. It means that we love the people of the world beyond the borders of our nation as we love our brothers and sisters and as we love our spouse. This is the way of truth for the world.

62 In this world there are people who are loyal to their family, there are people who are loyal to their community, and there are people who are loyal to their nation. Those who are loyal to their nation make the condition to leave a legacy—to pass on their national ideals as a tradition to their descendants. However, everyone living in this earthly world is destined to stand at the court of judgement. To prepare us for it, religions teach us to become not simply patriots who are loyal to our nation, or children who are filial to our parents, but children who are filial to God, the Father of the entire world, and to the King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the right way that all religions teach.

63 It is said that a person whose loyalty is for his nation is a patriot and a person who loves humanity and the world beyond the borders of his nation is a saint. This principle defines the right way for filial children toward their family, patriots for their nation, saints for the world, and divine sons and daughters for the sake of heaven and earth. We are called to be people who, like Jesus, connect humankind with love to the law of the heavenly kingdom and to the decrees that come from the Heavenly Palace. This way leads us in one straight line. On the other hand, the love of the devil goes the opposite way. That is why the habits of those on Satan's side are 180 degrees different from those on Heaven's side. Historically, the character of people on Satan's side is to demand that others invest for their sake, whereas the character of people on God's side is to give of themselves for the sake of others. In the end, it is the latter who become owners.

64 What is the difference between a patriot and a saint? A patriot does not go beyond his or her nation, but a world-level saint transcends his or her nation. The love of a saint is not limited to one nation. That person lives a life of love, enduring hardships and suffering, for the sake of humanity and the world.

65 Christianity speaks of sons and daughters of God, people who are like Jesus. These divine sons and daughters represent all the realms of the love and work of the heavenly kingdom, and they represent the realm of love for humanity on earth. Beyond this, divine sons and daughters are equipped with the internal and external qualities of the heavenly kingdom, they uphold the kingship of the Palace, and they live a life of love. Divine sons and daughters are different from world-level saints. Saints, even world-level saints, endeavored to love humanity based on brotherly love—a somewhat nebulous concept.  Divine sons and daughters, on the other hand, focus their love on building God's kingdom—the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and the Kingdom of Heaven in Heaven. Their subject partner is eternal. People in a nation live for their generation, but the kingdom of heaven's sovereignty should represent eternity. Sons and daughters of God are those who pledge to center their love on the sovereignty of the kingdom of heaven to the very end.

66 What is the way of divine sons and daughters? It represents the tradition of loyalty and filial piety, but for the sake of the invisible spirit world as well as this visible human world. The way of divine sons and daughters requires sacrificing the love of even the great world-level saints in order to pave the way to a higher love. When Jesus Christ came to earth, he knew the law for divine sons and daughters and how to follow the right way of a divine son. Therefore he loved even his enemies.

67 The founders of the great religions were world-level saints, people who loved the world. All religious leaders should follow the right way of these saints. Theirs was the path to love the world, transcending human history and national boundaries. Theirs was a love that has lasted for thousands of years. Then, who are divine sons and daughters, like Jesus? They are the people who are centered on God and who love God's kingdom and His sovereignty.

68 Filial children are those people in a family who love their parents and live for their sake. Patriots are people who love their nation and live for its sake, and saints are people who love the world and live for its sake. I am teaching you to become divine sons and daughters who love God and the universe, by living for their sake. In order to become a divine child of God, you need to have a loving heart like God.

69 What is the common thread running through human history? Even Though the world is fallen, history has unfolded based on ethics and morality. The center of morality is love, filial children are those who love their parents more and more; patriots are those who love their country more and more. The path of a saint teaches us to transcend nationality and love the world. World-level saints take it as their duty to love the world more than they love their own family or own country. The way of divine sons and daughters teaches us to transcend this world and love with the highest love in accordance with the decrees from the Heavenly Palace.  All these levels unfold in this way, centering on love.

70 Once you become a patriot, you are automatically a filial child. As a patriot, you stand above tens of thousands of filial children. When you become a world-level saint, who is on a higher level than a patriot, you can embrace tens of thousands of patriots. Divine sons and daughters are God's children. When a person follows the way of a divine son or daughter, saints in vast numbers will necessarily love and serve that person. What kind of person goes the way of a filial child, the way of a patriot, the way of a saint, and the way of a divine child? It is a person who loves and serves others for a higher purpose, loving them more than they love their own life, more than they love their own spouse and children.

71 Being a saint does not make you a divine son or daughter; it does not make you a filial child of God. You still have to become a divine son or daughter. No matter how devoted you are to the ruler of your nation and the people of your nation, in order to become a divine son or daughter you have to know the decrees issued from the Heavenly Palace. You have to know the one law as decreed from the Heavenly Palace, be governed by that law, and move to its rhythm.

72 On earth, you must equip yourself with the qualifications to earn the title of a patriot, then the title of a saint who can represent the world, and then the title of a divine son or daughter who can represent heaven and earth. Who are divine sons and daughters? They are those who know how to keep the decrees of the Palace in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus Christ knew how to do that, and that is why we call him the Son of God. Filial children of God invest their entire life in giving love for the sake of others; they love their family, their nation, and the world. When you walk the way of divine sons and daughters, you are investing not only for one generation; your position represents many hundreds of generations. The question when you die is: How much, through your investment, were you able to bring your ancestors in the spirit world down to earth to help you widen your foundation and influence the world beyond your nation? In the heavenly kingdom, your status is determined by the scope of your love for others.