By Zhao Lei, France
When I was at school, many people in our village moved into apartment buildings and bought cars, while my family was still living in an old one-storey house. Therefore, I was determined to work hard to become rich when I grew up. When the time came, I packed my bags, got on a train to somewhere else, and began to fight for my future …
“Hurry up! Hurry up!” The foreman kept shouting in the workshop. All the staff were working as fast as they could. I wiped the sweat off my face with one hand and held the drill in the other hand. Then I leaned over to massage my lower back before beginning the next task.
“Jie, hurry up! Hurry up! Don’t dilly-dally! Don’t you want to get off work?” The foreman’s urging voice came from the packing workshop. I’d just done a tray of cardboard boxes when the material supply staff delivered a pile of head-high materials to me. I stood on tiptoe to get a dozen of boxes down. I felt exhausted. But whenever I slowed down to catch my breath, I would hear the voice of the foreman urging me to work harder. With 3,000 boxes to be finished, I lowered my head and reluctantly continued my work. In the evenings, I often felt pains in my fingers. I told myself that he who endures the worst of sufferings is the best among men. So I must hold on. Everything would be OK when I was rich …
One day, when I was leaving after a workshop meeting, everything suddenly went black and I crouched on the floor. The foreman noticed me and shouted, “Jie, what’s happened to you? What’s happened to you?” My head was heavy, and I felt awful. It took me quite a while to recover a little bit. However, I didn’t take it seriously, because I thought I was a young adult who was full of energy.
In order to get higher pay, I found a new job in a machinery company working as a storehouse keeper. I was in charge of receiving, shipping and storing thousands of items. Besides the base salary, I also got overtime pay. In order to earn more money, I worked late almost every night updating the accounts.
With an increasing number of new products being developed by the company, the aisles in the storehouse were quickly filling with goods. Consequently, my shift went from eight hours to ten and then to twelve, and sometimes even more than twelve hours. On my way home from work, I always walked alone accompanied only by the silent night. But the thought of the increasing savings in my wage account made me forget the weariness and exhaustion. I imagined the day in the near future when I had my own house and car …
One day when I was pulling some heavy materials, I suddenly began to suffocate and felt heart palpitations and chest pains. I went to see a doctor and was diagnosed with arrhythmia. The doctor told me, “Young man, take a good rest and live a more regular life. Otherwise, you will have complications if it gets serious.” It was a wake-up call about my poor health. However, I didn’t listen to the doctor and decided that I would not think about it until it actually happened. So I just continued working hard for money and in order to own a house, and a car …
One day at work, a colleague, Mr. Xia, collapsed with myocardial infarction while he was working and was rushed to the hospital. He got ill through overwork and almost lost his life. Seeing this, I began to worry that the same thing would happen to me. I asked myself, “Is money really more important than life? If I lose my health, what will be the point of having money?” Every day, after work on my way home, I would turn at the crossroads of the alley to my accommodation. But which direction should I choose now that I was at a crossroads in life? For the first time, I felt lonely, helpless, and confused. I was exhausted mentally and physically. Would I just live like this for the rest of my life?
Just when I was confused and feeling helpless, the gospel of God came to me. I read a passage of God’s word: “‘‘Money makes the world go round’ is a philosophy of Satan, and it prevails among the whole of mankind, in every human society. You could say that it is a trend because it has been instilled in the heart of every single person. From the very beginning, people did not accept this saying, but then they gave it tacit acceptance when they came into contact with real life, and began to feel that these words were in fact true. Is this not a process of Satan corrupting man? Perhaps people do not understand this saying to the same degree, but everyone has different degrees of interpretation and acknowledgment of this saying based on things that have happened around them and on their own personal experiences. Is that not the case? Regardless of how much experience someone has with this saying, what is the negative effect that it can have on someone’s heart? Something is revealed through the human disposition of the people in this world, including each and every one of you. How is this thing that is revealed to be interpreted? It is the worship of money. Is it hard to remove this from someone’s heart? It is very hard! It seems that Satan’s corruption of man is deep indeed! So after Satan uses this trend to corrupt people, how is it manifested in them? Do you feel that you could not survive in this world without any money, that even one day without money would be impossible? People’s status is based on how much money they have, as is the respect they command. The backs of the poor are bent in shame, while the rich enjoy their high status. They stand tall and proud, speaking loudly and living arrogantly. What does this saying and trend bring to people? Is it not true that many people make any sacrifice in the pursuit of money?”
Then I understood this: “Money makes the world go round” and “Money is first” are Satan’s life rules which had corrupted my view of life and deceived me into making becoming rich the goal of my life. Under the influence of these ideas and views, I believed that money meant everything and with money I could be superior to others, make a difference, and honor my family. Therefore, I often worked overtime and sweated blood just to earn more money, and I would not take a rest even when I was exhausted and suffered illness. God used the case of Mr. Xia to warn me that it is stupid to sacrifice health and life for money. The Lord Jesus said: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Compared with life, money is not worth mentioning at all! Money gives me only temporary physical pleasures, but it can’t help me regain my health. So I shouldn’t live for money only.
Understanding this, I was less eager to pursue money. Afterward, I began to attend church meetings, read God’s words, and sing hymns in praise of God, making these things an indispensable part of my life. I gained a kind of assuredness and peace in my heart that I never tasted before. I tried to let go of my desire for wealth, and attached less importance to working hard; at weekends, I began to take some rest. Thus, I gradually recovered a little bit. However, I hesitated again when I heard about my colleagues getting higher pay for the overtime they were doing. I didn’t know what to choose: Working overtime for money or taking a good rest for my health…
Later, I read a passage of God’s words: “But there is an exceedingly simple way to free oneself from this state, which is to bid farewell to one’s former way of living; to say goodbye to one’s previous goals in life; to summarize and analyze one’s previous lifestyle, view of life, pursuits, desires, and ideals; and then to compare them with God’s will and demands for man, and see whether any of them is consistent with God’s will and demands, whether any of them delivers the right values of life, leads one to a greater understanding of the truth, and allows one to live with humanity and the likeness of a human being. When you repeatedly investigate and carefully dissect the various goals that people pursue in life and their myriad ways of living, you will find not one of them conforms to the Creator’s original intention with which He created humanity. All of them draw people away from the Creator’s sovereignty and care; they are all traps which cause people to become depraved, and which lead them to hell. After you recognize this, your task is to lay aside your old view of life, stay far from various traps, let God take charge of your life and make arrangements for you; it is to try only to submit to God’s orchestrations and guidance, to live without individual choice, and to become a person who worships God.”
As I pondered over God’s words, I nodded repeatedly: “God’s words are so practical. In the past, Satan’s idea that ‘Money is first’ was deeply rooted in my heart and I used it as my motto in life and kept working overtime. I sacrificed my time, freedom, and health just to earn more money. After starting to believe in God, I finally have a normal life. So wouldn’t it be stupid to return to my old ways? God rules over and arranges people’s fates. So wealth is not gained through people’s efforts. God’s will is to make me let go of the view of living for money so that I can work normally and have regular daily routines. I will learn to obey God’s sovereignty and arrangements.”
After that, I worked to a fixed schedule and rested regularly. Gradually, my body became stronger and I looked better and better. I felt elated and worked more efficiently. My heart felt enriched and peaceful instead of being worried and in panic. Later, the company adjusted the salaries in my department, although they didn’t tell me why. I worked less but was paid more, which convinced me that wealth is not gained through people’s efforts but is predetermined by God. It is painful to live by Satan’s life view instead of submitting to God’s sovereignty and arrangements. In contrast, those who choose to obey God and live by His words will have true peace and joy.
Thank God for saving me from the life of being exhausted and sacrificing health for money.