A Running Farmer: An Endless Desire

By Fuqi

I once read such a story: A farmer worked in his field from dawn to dusk every day, but due to the poor soil, he always gained a bad harvest. Later on, an angel told him that he could strive his best to run ahead, and that all the field he passed would belong to him. Hearing this, he was overjoyed and then ran forward desperately. After running a long distance, he felt so tired and wanted to stop. However, when he suddenly thought of his wife and children, to make his family live a richer life, he kept running. Afterward, he was so exhausted that he almost had no strength to go farther, but when he thought about how he needed a guarantee to live his later life, he forced himself to continue. As a result, not long after that, he fell down and could no longer rise up.

After reading this story, we may think this farmer was too stupid, because no man can run to the end of the endless field. He forfeited his life only by his greedy desires. Though a lot of people feel pity for the farmer, there is still no lack of such men doing the same stupid things like him in reality. For example, for the sake of their livelihoods and more material enjoyment, many people struggle hard and rush around without stopping. At last, they lose their precious lives just to satisfy an endless desire. Living in this dazzling world of materialism and debauchery, each of us faces a great many temptations. In order to spend our days in comfort and enjoy a better life, we make money desperately and never stop. However, no matter how much wealth we have, when we are about to die, then what use will it be? The following protagonist was an example. She was unable to refuse the temptations in such a dazzling world. And for the purpose of living a better life than others, she was not satisfied with what she had gained at all, and she kept rushing about, unable to stop. In the end, she almost lost her life.

She was born in a mountainous region and lived a poor life since childhood. Therefore, she desired to grow up quickly so that she could leave there to live a rich life as soon as possible. When she was 17 years old, she left the poor mountain village with her cousin and went to a flourishing city to pursue a rich life. At the introduction of her cousin, she met her boyfriend and got married to him later. After two years, she was unwilling to live an ordinary life and all she thought about was lead a better life where she was above others. She stubbornly thought, “I may be poor but I should be ambitious. So long as I work hard to make more money, someday I will achieve my dream.” Afterward, she borrowed some money from her relatives to open a small food store and gradually her life got better, but she was not satisfied. Seeing that others gained a lot of money and enjoyed a good life because of selling jade products, she admired them so much and started to learn to carve jade. Because the jade was easy to break while she carved it, she suffered many cuts to her hands. But she was not discouraged, and she continued to work after getting her wounds patched up in the hospital. In order to make more money, she was unwilling to spare a moment to rest in the daytime, and moreover, in the evening she would work overtime. She kept working like this for over ten years. Every day she was exhausted, her back aching and her legs in pain. Because of years of toil, she suffered from cervical spondylosis. Sometimes her neck was so painful that she couldn’t dress herself or comb her hair. But she only took some medicine to relieve her pain. She thought, “If I can make more money, it is worth it to lose my life.” So in order to realize her dream of leading a lavish lifestyle, living in a luxury house and driving around in an expensive car, though she got ill through overwork, she was loath to stop. Afterward, she started a jade store. Every day she was busy in working until midnight. Years of work finally got results. She became rich for her hometown, living the life she dreamed of. The relatives and neighbors looked at her admiringly, saying that she was capable and was a typical successful career woman. She was proud of that.

In 2013, a friend of hers bore witness to Almighty God’s work in the last days to her, but she didn’t care at all. She thought, “Now is the best time to do business and make a fortune. As for belief in God, I’ll consider it later.” Her friend’s advice didn’t enter her heart in the least. Under the reign of her greedy heart, she was unable to stop her pursuit of money, and still busied herself in doing business every day, going out early and returning late. Unconsciously, she was always tired out and her entire body was limp and weak. Until one day, she had a serious discharge of blood, so her husband hurried to send her to hospital. After examination, she was discovered to have terminal cancer. When she heard that unexpected and terrible news, she couldn’t believe it at all and so had an examination again. But the result was still the same. In that moment, she was stunned. Her husband begged the doctor to operate on her, no matter how much money they would have to pay. But the doctor said with a sign, “It’s too late. Now she is too weak to have an operation. If she doesn’t have the operation, she can live for two more months.” Hearing these words, her husband and son both cried for her. Only when faced with death did she see life is so fragile and vulnerable, and that no matter how much money she had, it was unable to save her. Before the facts, she eventually came to realize that though money could give her a rich life and an abundance of material comforts and earn others’ compliments, it was powerless before death, and that her busyness in all her life resulted in loss of her life. Tortured, she began to lament how she pursued the worthless life, and how she devoted everything to making money but met such a brutal end. She couldn’t help feeling it was really empty. At the thought of her life on the verge of death, she, lying on a hospital bed, couldn’t refrain from bursting into tears. Later, after coming back home from the hospital, she suddenly recalled what her friend had told her—Almighty God is performing the work of salvation on earth. Being so helpless, she desired to see her friend again and learn more about Almighty God’s work.

Thank Almighty God for His love. Her friend really came to see her, which made her a little surprised. Her friend asked her with concern, “Are you now willing to come back before God?” She felt warm in her heart, saying, “Yes, I am.” Then her friend read a passage of God’s words to her, “Almighty God, the Head of all things, wields His kingly power from His throne. He rules over the universe and all things and He is guiding us on the whole earth. We shall often be close to Him, and come before Him in quietness; never shall we miss a single moment, and there are things to learn at all times. The environment around us as well as the people, matters and objects, all are permitted by His throne. Do not have a complaining heart, or God will not bestow His grace upon you. When sickness happens it is due to God’s love, and His good intentions are surely behind it. Even when your body endures suffering, take no ideas from Satan. Praise God in the midst of illness and enjoy God in the midst of your praise. Do not lose heart in the face of illness, keep seeking and never give up, and God shall shine His light on you. How faithful was Job? Almighty God is an all-powerful physician! To dwell in sickness is to be sick, but to dwell in the spirit is to be well. If you have but one breath, God will not let you die” (“The Sixth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Her friend fellowshiped, “God’s words tell us that Almighty God is an all-powerful physician, so in the face of illness, we should have faith to rely on God, entrust our lives to God, and let God arrange our lives and deaths.” When she heard Almighty God’s words, as if she’d been thrown a lifeline, she found support in her heart and felt extremely comforted. Tears welled up in her eyes. She was willing to put her life into God’s hands and face it calmly, and obey God’s domination and arrangements.

Afterward, she actively attended gatherings, and optimistically faced each day. In addition, she entrusted her illness to God, obeyed God’s control and arrangements of it, and no longer worried about it. She saw God’s words say, “People spend their lives chasing after money and fame; they clutch at these straws, thinking they are their only means of support, as if by having them they could keep on living, could exempt themselves from death. But only when they are close to dying do they realize how distant these things are from them, how weak they are in the face of death, how easily they shatter, how lonely and helpless they are, with nowhere to turn. They realize that life cannot be bought with money or fame, that no matter how wealthy a person is, no matter how lofty his or her position is, all people are equally poor and inconsequential in the face of death. They realize that money cannot buy life, that fame cannot erase death, that neither money nor fame can lengthen a person’s life by a single minute, a single second. The more people feel this way, the more they yearn to keep on living; the more people feel this way, the more they dread the approach of death. Only at this point do they truly realize that their lives do not belong to them, are not theirs to control, and that one has no say over whether one lives or dies, that all of this lies outside of one’s control.” “If one views life as an opportunity to experience the Creator’s sovereignty and come to know His authority, if one sees one’s life as a rare chance to perform one’s duty as a created human being and to fulfill one’s mission, then one will necessarily have the correct outlook on life, will live a life blessed and guided by the Creator, will walk in the light of the Creator, know the Creator’s sovereignty, come under His dominion, become a witness to His miraculous deeds and to His authority. Needless to say, such a person will necessarily be loved and accepted by the Creator …” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After reading God’s words, she came to a sudden realization. What God’s words revealed was exactly a true portrayal of her. In the past, in order to live a better life and have others think highly of her, she desperately worked to make money. In her heart, money was always first and for the sake of it, she was willing to suffer anything. However, when Almighty God’s salvation in the last days came to her, she took it lightly, rejecting and being away from God. All the time, she kept rushing about for money. Under the domination of those wrong thoughts like “Money isn’t everything, but without it, you can do nothing” and “One can be without anything but money,” she had never been able to set aside her pursuit of money. Just like that farmer, she was insatiably avaricious, and even though she had been ill due to overwork, she was still unwilling to have a rest, with the result that she ruined herself. When death approached her, she sought to survive with plenty of money, but it failed to save her. So, she could only wait for death. Only at that time did she start to regret her admiration for a luxury life and realize what she had pursued in the past was empty. She finally awakened. And she pledged that she wouldn’t be a slave to money and would like to devote the rest of her life to God. After then, she sincerely prayed to God and eagerly read God’s words every day; moreover, she began to perform hosting duty. She also gathered with her brothers and sisters to read and fellowship God’s words. Gradually, she got better. To contribute some of her energy, she went to spread the gospel and born witness to Almighty God’s salvation of the last days to her relatives and friends.

Several months later, which missed the deadline of two months said by the doctor, she didn’t feel any discomfort. After a reexamination in the hospital, she was told that her cancer had miraculously disappeared. That made her so excited that she couldn’t help bursting into tears. Never had she expected that she, who was considered to die soon, would gain God’s great salvation. She was full of gratitude toward God. In her experience, she truly felt that her fate and life were controlled in God’s hands. And she was clear that it was Almighty God who gave her a second life, and that only God was her Savior. Contemplating God’s love, she didn’t know how to express her gratitude to God. Meanwhile, she felt a lot of remorse for her past. When God sent her friend to spread the gospel to her, she paid no attention to God’s salvation and didn’t take it seriously, stubbornly thinking that “Money makes the world go round” and remaining greedily indulging in the pursuit of money. Though she persisted in error, when her life came to its limit, God still didn’t abandon her and stretched forth His loving hands to her again. She awakened eventually, knowing how to live a meaningful and valuable life. She resolved to do her best to follow God, seek to know God, and perform her duty to repay His immense love. She also deeply experienced that if man doesn’t obey the Creator’s orchestrations and arrangements but relies on Satan’s laws to live, he can only bring himself pain and destruction and at last, he will become a prisoner of Satan and a slave to money, thus ruining his whole life. Just as God’s words say, “God is man’s only Lord, God is the only Master of human fate, and so it is impossible for man to dictate his own fate, impossible for him to surpass it. No matter how great one’s abilities, one cannot influence, much less orchestrate, arrange, control, or change the fates of others. Only the unique God Himself dictates all things for man, for only He possesses the unique authority that holds sovereignty over human fate; and so only the Creator is man’s unique Master. God’s authority holds sovereignty not only over created humanity, but over non-created beings that no human can see, over the stars, over the cosmos. This is an indisputable fact, a fact that truly exists, which no human or thing can change. If one of you is still dissatisfied with things as they stand, believing that you have some special skill or ability, and still thinking you can get lucky and change your present circumstances or else escape them; if you attempt to change your own fate by means of human effort, and thereby stand out from others and win fame and fortune; then I say to you, you are making things hard for yourself, you are only asking for trouble, you are digging your own grave! One day, sooner or later, you will discover that you made the wrong choice, that your efforts were wasted. Your ambition, your desire to struggle against fate, and your own egregious conduct, will lead you down a road of no return, and for this you will pay a bitter price” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Her experience is worthy of our reflection. If we lust and chase after money like her, maybe we will make much money and gain both fame and wealth, but when we are faced with death, they can never be in exchange for our precious lives. Without the truth, we have no resistance at all before the enticements of the world of sensual pleasures, so we will be easily captured by Satan. If you don’t want to be like that farmer or the protagonist, who didn’t wake up until she was about to die, I believe you will make a wise choice after pondering.