Cheon Seong Gyeong Ⅱ - 386. The Public Life of a Church Leader
1 When I am even a little late for morning pledge service, I cannot hold up my head for the rest of the day. Such is the kind of life I live. Throughout that day and week, I cannot get a grip on myself. The following week I wake up early and offer devotions tenfold or even a hundredfold to indemnify my lapse of the previous week. Only after I have set such a condition can I feel at ease. This is how I live my life. What a difficult life! I may look impressive when talking to you, but to be able to do that I must live a life that is full of restrictions, with no way out for weeks and even months on end. Is it a private life or a public life? It is a public life. You have no idea what a difficult position I am in as a religious leader.( 031-254,19700604)
2 My history will not be written while I am alive; it will be written only after I pass on. If I did anything that cannot be recognized publicly, based on the Principle, then I will be in serious trouble. The question is whether the content of the Principle supports my way of life. If my life is thought to have gone in the wrong direction, I will end up losing everything I have achieved. That is why a person in charge is in a dim-cult situation. A leader should not be the first to go to bed, no matter how tired he or she may be. He or she should not lie down until everyone else has gone to bed, and should be the last to finish praying. A leader should lead a life of faith and offer devotions, even if it means living in poverty with hardly anything to eat or wear. Such is the position of a leader. When a leader lives that way, he or she cannot go wrong, no matter what others think.( 033-169,19700811)
The path of public righteousness 3 Even when you do something as ordinary as eating rice, you should consider whether your act of eating is public or private. When you eat a meal, eat for the thirty million people of Korea and for the people of the world. If you try to make the world exist for the sake of Korea, Korea will be reduced to ruin. If you try to make the world exist for the sake of the United States, the United States will be brought to ruin. The United States can prosper only when it exists for the sake of the world.( 036-074,197011 15)
4 Which should be higher, our direct relationships of love in the fallen world, or our indirect relationship of love with God? We should place our indirect relationship with God higher than our direct love relationships in this world. If that is not the case, we need to elevate our level of love. When we form that bond with God, we create a place where everyone longs to be. It is a bond and a relationship that people respect, whether they want to or not. Then, what can we learn from it and what should we do? We should learn how to love humanity. In today’s world, many view our Unification Church members as having no bond with Heaven and no relationship with God. We may appear so to them, but in fact we have that bond and we have a profound relationship with God. Since we have attained such a position, we need to manifest the love that God desires to give humanity.( 025-286,19691005)
5 You who call each other church members should love each other more than you love other people, more than you love the things of this world. By truly loving one another you create the environment of love that can expand to the world. In this regard, the important thing is how much you appreciate the life of each member. Ask yourself how much you value each of your fellow church members. Even in the fallen world, when a person is going through difficulties other people help by giving whatever they can. If we cannot surpass that level of bonds and relationships, in the future we will be absorbed back into the fallen world. In that case, we cannot become the foothold for God to establish the bond that He so greatly hopes to make with all people.( 025-286,19691005)
6 You leaders need to be clear in your standpoint. Otherwise you will have a negative impact on your members. Whether you are in charge of a business or a church, you should be able to always love all the people with a public mind, that is, a caring heart, as though God had sent them to you. Care for your members as you would care for yourself, according to the law of public-mindedness. If you have the position of a leader, you should love all the people under your charge more than you assert yourself. Your standard in this matter should be higher than any existing relationship in Satan's world today. Otherwise we cannot realize the kingdom of heaven that we desire.( 025-287,19691005)
7 If you do not attend church three weeks in a row, you might even encounter an accident. If you do not attend church for one week, a second week and a third week, you will not feel at ease. You will not be able to say what is really on your mind, so instead you will lie. If this happens repeatedly, you will grow estranged from the church and eventually you will cut yourself off completely. As can be seen, although we witnessed to numerous people, many of them were lost because we lacked a good follow-up system to take care of them. Therefore, rather than focusing on giving Divine Principle lectures and making new relationships, you should take responsibility for those who connected with us in the past and raise them to bear fruit.( 029-194,19700228)
8 As a public leader, your attitude is an important issue. Heaven is in the highest position. That is why Jesus said, "Whoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matt. 10:37) Jesus said this to indicate he held the highest position. Heaven strives to love us and establish a bond with us from this highest position. Thus, when you go out and introduce God to other people, how should you approach them? First, do not treat them with disdain. Someone may look plain and simple, but, although you cannot pinpoint it, you may get the feeling, "He is like my elder brother," or, "She is like my elder sister." Or perhaps when the person turns around, you may feel, "I have seen this person before." Surely such a person is meant to have a connection with you.( 050-265,1971 1108)
9 When you witness to someone, how much importance do you place on that person's life? You need to reflect on this issue. A doctor is responsible to examine and strive to cure any patient who comes to see him. It does not matter if the doctor himself is ill. If that doctor is the only person who can cure the patient s ailment, and if the only way to cure the ailment is by performing surgery, then it is the doctor s duty to forget about his own pain, take up a scalpel and work for hours using all his medical expertise to save that person’s life. Such a doctor can be called a true doctor of doctors. If that doctor died immediately after completing the operation, he would be regarded as having ended his life as a true doctor. And if that last patient were cured, that person would never forget what the doctor had done. The patient would even speak of it as the last words to his or her descendants.( 069-165,19731031)
10 Leaders of this age should not consider themselves great. They should know that they have attained their positions thanks to the merit and sacrifices of their many ancestors. They should not think of themselves as great and claim they have the right to take what belongs to others because they deserve it. Rather, leaders should have the attitude that they must live a public life. A political party should not put itself ahead of the nation; rather, the party should put the nation first. Likewise, the Unification Church should not put itself first, for it exists to save the nation. The Unification Church should not exist to own the world; rather, it should be a church that exists to save the world. When that happens, Heaven will always be with the Unification Church. Church leaders need to understand this tradition as they carry out their work. I am telling the leaders not to think they have risen to their present positions because they are great.( 130-304,19840213)
11 The world in which we live needs to be governed by law. Based on the law, matters are distinguished as right or wrong. Then what about the universe with God at its center? What will be the law by which we distinguish right from wrong? It will be the law of public righteousness, of living for the greater good. This will determine what is good or evil. Even in the family there are laws. Whether something is right or wrong is determined based on the family law of the greater good. The parents are in charge of upholding their family law. Hence, they cannot violate that law, and they are responsible for dealing with any such violation. If the parents do something wrong, the entire family will be affected. This also holds true for any society, company or organization. Each has its laws, and it depends on the leader whether the entity is for the public or private purpose, for good or for evil.( 147-259,19861001)
12 The leader of an organization bears public responsibility. As the person in charge, he or she has to take full responsibility. He or she should uphold and follow its rules and regulations. The leader guides the organization as its subject, which determines whether it will go the way of goodness or the way of evil. The same is true for the ruler of a nation. A nation's ruler is its subject figure who shoulders full responsibility to ensure that his nation upholds the law, which should be based upon the law of public righteousness. That ruler needs to be fully prepared for this role in all its aspects, both internal and external. Thus, leaders should be able to govern by the law of public righteousness, to uphold that law and influence all citizens of the nation to fulfill their responsibilities under it. Otherwise, from the perspective of the law of public righteousness, the ruler cannot represent the entire nation.( 147-260,19861001)
13 The world is surely heading toward unity with the central figure and the public will, centered on the law of the greater good. People in both the physical world and the spirit world are following this same path. Even God cannot just do as He pleases. Having set up the law of the greater good, God can firmly secure His position only by maintaining the centrality of that law and fulfilling His public duties and responsibilities in accordance with that law. He cannot assert His authority by ignoring His own law. The same is true for us, regarding the laws of the family, society and nation.( 147-260,19861001)
14 You may think you deserve to take the money that people have earned and donated, believing it is your due. In fact you are stealing the money, and you will be punished. The money that people offer is more fearsome than poison. If they earned it by shedding tears, going hungry and becoming thin, and you do not treat it with a deeper heart than that, you will be en-snared by that money. If you have not attained the standard of goodness to properly handle the money that was offered with devotion before Heaven, your children will pay the price. It will harm them and consume them. That is why you should regard public funds as precious. This is true everywhere in the world. If the sons and daughters of well-known revivalists or religious leaders go in the wrong direction, it is because those parents incurred such a debt. I know this. That is why when people bring an offering, I do not receive it with my own hands. I tell them to take the money and use it for some purpose without informing me about it. I can live without receiving that money. Or when I do receive such money, I do so in the name of God. I receive it saying, "I will use this as public money." I do not lay hands on even a cent for my private use.( 212-266,19910106)
15 To hold a public position is a daunting task. Those who hold a public position cannot live with selfish motives. When I give a sermon, if other pastors speak for an hour, I ought to speak at least ten minutes more. When mountain climbing, I have to be able to claim that I have taken at least one step more than others; otherwise someone will accuse me for not making a proper condition. That is why I have been living such a pitiful life. I can never live a comfortable life, just taking it easy. Since I live with such caution, Heaven also treats me with caution and heavenly fortune treats me carefully as well.( 212-267,19910106)
16 A church leader should never be dry-eyed. The most pitiful and sorrowful person in the world is a church leader. When I think about Gods heart and the providence of restoration, I often feel that God is to be pitied. When I think about all I need to do on the path of restoration, I feel so sad that I choke, my throat closes up and my heart bursts. Many times I feel as if I am about to faint. Without such a heart, I could not have lived for God and carried out His work. When passing by a village somewhere, if I happen to see something bad, I think, "I will let it go right now, but you wait and see. Later I will clean up this place with my own hands." That is the kind of person I am.( 046-298,19710817)
17 You need to pray a lot. Without praying, you can neither win God's sympathy nor receive His help. That is because if you are focused on yourself, you do not have a basis to receive sympathy. This is something to feel sad about. However, if you become someone with whom God can sympathize, you will never be lonely. Even if you lie down in your room in the dead of winter on a cold floor that feels like a block of ice, you will not feel miserable. Was that not the reason Jesus prayed a lot? If you do not have time to pray, you should pray while you are walking down the street, or you can witness instead. That is, you can witness to others, substituting that for your daily prayer.( 046-298,19710817)
18 Leaders need to give, not receive. When giving, they should not give the same thing over and over. They need to give something new. It is difficult to give sermons, isn't it? In giving lectures on the Divine Principle, you can just repeat what it says, but giving sermons is difficult because you should not give the same message repeatedly. When parents feed their beloved children, they pick and choose a variety of nutritious foods. Likewise, you should not give the same message again and again. If you have nothing to give, pray to receive inspiration from God. Then feed what you have received from God to your church members. Discuss with Him what to feed them.( 046-299,19710817)
19 You certainly represent God. Some-times you may pray without being entirely aware of the content, yet you are deeply moved by your own prayer. When you are in such a state, everyone present will be captivated by God, and will recognize through personal experience that God is the driving force and the source of life. Through that experience, they will come to feel that they absolutely need God. To give people such powerful and moving experiences, your prayers are absolutely necessary.( 046-299,19710817)
20 People in charge should never be arrogant. A leader should be like a parent, a mother or father. The leader is a representative of God. The leader needs to invest greater effort than anyone else, day and night, and take responsibility to resolve all kinds of situations, whether spiritual or physical, internal or external, with a sincere heart. He or she should be the one to whom others come for advice, the subject partner of heart that people love more than they love their own parents. Without the ability to lead in this way, one cannot fulfill the mission of a leader.( 068-273,19730805) |