The Spiritual Nature of Living

Is the Christian faith solely about going to heaven after death, or is it also about thriving while alive? The Book of Deuteronomy primarily concerns matters of the living, thus life itself is deeply spiritual. Various life circumstances are intrinsically spiritual: the most crucial aspects of living are blessings and curses, which form the main axis of one's life. Some people are dogged by misfortune, while others thrive. This disparity arises from the influence of blessings and curses. What, then, are spiritual matters and worldly matters? Some suggest that diligent work equates to loving the world, which causes me considerable confusion. Is work a worldly or a spiritual endeavor? Are business, childbirth, and raising children worldly or spiritual?

In fact, all matters concerning life are spiritual. Some ask if worship in church obviates the need to work. This is not the case. Water cannot substitute for food, nor can food replace water. Understanding this principle prevents such inquiries. Matters of living are spiritual, but spiritual matters are not interchangeable. Scripture offers numerous similar concepts, such as the non-substitution of speaking in tongues for intelligible prayer and the Holy Spirit's filling as a replacement for Bible study. This concept must be firmly ingrained. We are like constructing an aircraft: wings cannot function as the engine, a self-evident principle. Yet, many Christians conflate these in practice. God's initial creation of Adam and Eve did not involve constant hallelujahs, but stewardship, multiplication, and dominion over the earth—they were to work. Work is crucial. A key tenet of our church is transforming societal rejects into societal assets. I trust no one will oppose this!

Matters of Life are Matters of Shepherding

Among us, all matters concerning life are areas for pastoral care. Many business owners grapple with the realities of living. Working for someone is simpler than running a business, which is fraught with challenges. There is a book titled The Game of Capital. In the realm of capital, some are bit players, others capitalists, and still others entrepreneurs. The bar is higher for capitalists than for bit players, and even higher for entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs tackle highly complex issues. How do church leaders shepherd these individuals? We must enable them to be blessed! But we need to explore. Leading employed brothers and sisters into blessing is relatively simple, but guiding business people into blessing requires exploration. Scripture reading alone is insufficient for their pastoral care. Of course, faith is the foundation of a person's life. Living itself is a spiritual matter. God forbids the killing of those accidentally harmed, valuing life greatly. We must also value life, the two most important aspects of which are blessings and curses, choices of one’s own making.

If you diligently obey God's word, you will be blessed. If you disobey, you will be cursed. I care deeply about whether our brothers and sisters live in blessing. How to live blessed is intriguing. Crucially, without discerning the essence of living, thriving is difficult. Someone driven by sheer survival to act unscrupulously disregards the idea of blessings and curses. We aspire to manifest God’s glory in life, yet God intends to heal you.

Why do you have this illness? There is surely a reason. Given that living is spiritual, encountering misfortune is also spiritual. If one is preoccupied with living, seeking to thrive and earn money, unscrupulous means lead to curses and a worse life. We must understand that living is simple: live in blessing, not driven by survival instincts toward cursed actions.

Living in Blessing

Whether one lives for decades or centuries, it is not in vain to walk with God and reflect His image, not vanity of vanities. Why do I say to emerge from emptiness into destined blessing? Because it is the law of blessing! Understanding and seeing through matters is good! In my childhood, a neighbor, a factory director with power, contracted cancer and died in his forties. Despite his will to live, survival was not guaranteed. One cannot live solely on survival instincts; one must live bearing God’s glorious image.

To business owners, I encourage pursuing the path of blessing; to employees, I encourage the same; to farmers, likewise—it is the solution. Where is the path of blessing? It lies in discerning the essence of life. Without this, one struggles until death.

Shedding Innocent Blood Brings Severe Curses

If living is spiritual, are the causes of curses also spiritual? They certainly are. Scripture cites many causes of curses. I tell you that the curse from shedding innocent blood is very deep. In Genesis, Moses records that after Noah's flood, God made a covenant: whoever sheds human blood, man or beast, shall be put to death, for man is made in God's image! Man is precious, and human life is precious. Human life is not on par with cockroaches; crushing ants is insignificant, but killing a person is a serious matter! Shedding innocent blood brings severe curses!

Scripture speaks of spiritual words and matters. Do not think this chapter is about establishing cities of refuge; it is about the curse of shedding innocent blood. If an ax head flies off and kills someone, it is accidental, but devastating for the victim’s family. Intentional or accidental, it is critical. But if the community takes the life of the accidental killer, they commit the sin of shedding innocent blood—he should not have died.

If innocent blood is shed in a place, that place is cursed, a grave matter! Human life differs from animal life; human life is precious. How does God resolve this? He established cities of refuge for protection, avoiding the sin of shedding innocent blood. God's concept of a city of refuge addresses the curse. Brothers and sisters, see what God is doing: solving a curse problem! Whatever our occupations, address the problem of curses. Few curses are needed to end lives. Jesus Christ on the cross bore our curses, a profoundly accurate statement!

If the most important aspects of living are blessings and curses, how can we thrive with past curses upon us? Jesus Christ came to resolve past issues, but not future ones. Some Christians pursue Christianity for survival, easily falling under curses, because they may resort to unscrupulous, sinful means. For example, in lawsuits, false testimony may arise, even among Christians. Being a reputable Christian averts this. This is why I encourage you to be reputable Christians.

Some constantly complain to God, lamenting their lack of transformation. Do not assume God is at fault. I tell you today, transformation depends on you, for our God is faithful. I am not God's advocate. I cannot prove that problems are not God's fault. But if you insist your problems originate from God, so be it! That is not God's problem, but yours!

People often ask, Teacher, is this an object of destruction? I often don't know. They wonder why I don’t, yet the object is neither clearly destructive nor clearly not. The issue is: why buy such things? Simplicity is better. A clean home is sufficient. Avoid acquiring such items, objects of destruction.

Shedding innocent blood invites severe curses, but many other things do as well. Understand spiritual matters. Recently, I noticed something interesting: my mother smoking. What about it? Many people smoke! But smoking clouded her mind. She became confused, unaware of things like incontinence. Upon waking, she felt disgusted. Once, after smoking, she fell and crawled on the ground like a reptile, unable to rise. She prayed and called on God, and she saw God's hand lift her up!

Is smoking so deadly? Some smokers live long lives. We cannot definitively assess. But if something is unnecessary, why do it? Health-wise, smoking is detrimental. My point is that many things bring curses. This passage speaks of shedding innocent blood. Why does it occur? Cain first shed innocent blood. Did Cain thrive? He suffered from paranoia, fearing for his life, a miserable existence. Brothers and sisters, do not be like Cain, collapsing and killing.

In life, the curse of shedding innocent blood is deep. Someone wanted to park, but a mother with a child blocked the spot. Refusing to move, the driver, enraged, killed the child and had to forfeit his life. The sin of shedding innocent blood is deadly. The world says, Impulse is the devil! Unaware of the spiritual realm, they know impulse is demonic. That is interesting. Avoid impulsiveness. Where does impulse come from? From the knowledge of good and evil. The knowledge of good and evil triggers impulse, leading to shedding innocent blood, cursing, and a miserable life.

Statistics show that murderers often have nightmares and are haunted by ghosts. From today, know that even for survival, do not shed innocent blood, let alone for reasons beyond survival, like Cain killing Abel for rivalry: that is not the solution. The solution is removing curses. Believing in Jesus removes curses. Jesus bore our past curses. Can we still sin? We must not sin again.

Many tell me Christians are the worst, saying they sin, confess, repent, repeat, and that God is unjust for forgiving them to keep sinning. I offer comfort, saying it is not so. Sinning has consequences. Repentance requires paying a price, for our God is a just God.

Do not think deliberate sin is inconsequential; it is deadly. Ambushing and killing someone has consequences! In my hometown, a wealthy family was targeted by thieves. The thieves stole their money and fled. The family's son returned, encountered them, and was fatally stabbed. The thieves did not intend to kill, but the son saw them stealing and was killed. The thieves were caught and interrogated. It was deemed accidental, but the affluent family bribed officials to sentence them to death, committing the sin of shedding innocent blood, for they did not deserve death for theft. The family declined. Brothers and sisters, recognize the significance of curses and profoundly understand them!

Moving Boundary Markers is a Spiritual Matter

Moving boundary markers is unequivocally accursed. The Ten Commandments are paramount in our reading of the Bible, yet they represent merely a baseline. Violating them ushers in profound curses. To murder, to commit adultery – such transgressions carry deep maledictions. Likewise, coveting another's land, house, spouse, or children is forbidden. The act of moving boundary markers has profound spiritual implications, and I exhort all to resist the allure of worldly possessions and riches. To profit at another's expense, to encroach upon a neighbour's land, is a grave matter, transgressing against the boundaries established by our forefathers. Why do people seek unfair advantages? Because they are ignorant of the spiritual dimensions at play, they fail to grasp the spiritual implications, falsely believing that such gains will improve their lives. In reality, it leads to their detriment. One's well-being is inextricably linked to spiritual forces. The boundaries of one's land are divinely ordained; therefore, to move them is to offend God, inviting even deeper curses.

Bearing False Witness to Harm Others

Avoid lawsuits at all costs, for litigation itself is a curse. To compound this by enlisting false witnesses invites even greater malediction. Why do people resort to lawsuits? In pursuit of justice. Yet, false testimony perverts justice, ushering in curses. One may believe that winning a lawsuit ensures a better life, but it often attracts a multitude of curses, ultimately leading to a decline. Curses fester, spawning numerous troubles and repeating patterns. People fail to comprehend the profound wretchedness of spiritual matters! Therefore, brothers and sisters, do not live solely for survival instincts. Do not succumb to fear; life and death are predetermined. Living solely for survival easily draws one into curses. Those from families of judges or priests, if they lack understanding of the spiritual realm and bear false witness, incur deep familial curses. If one's grasp of the spiritual world is tenuous, and involvement in a case coincides with pressure from superiors, the resulting trepidation can make it difficult to uphold justice.

The same applies to lawyers. False witness and legal defence can readily invite curses. Why? Because they are not rooted in justice but rather in advocating for the client's interests. Thus, officials and judges must never bear false witness for momentary personal gain, for it will affect their descendants. Whatever one does, one must be mindful of what God requires of us. What God requires of us is to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. A Christian family, whose child was murdered, pleaded for leniency for the perpetrator, deeply understanding the profound curses involved. The world may perceive them as foolish, but they comprehend the operative principles of curses.

The Sum of the Law and the Prophets

The sum of the Law and the Prophets is that as you treat others, so shall you be treated. When assessing their own problems, people tend to use a reducing glass; when assessing the problems of others, they favour a microscope, magnifying them many thousands of times. Their own problems are trivialised, while those of others are deemed monumental. People have innate flaws that must be addressed; this must be done objectively. If you scrutinize others with a microscope, God will scrutinize you with a microscope. Your problems will then be magnified a thousandfold, even several thousandfold, and the curse will envelop you. It is imperative to understand what Scripture says: treat one another as brothers. As you treat others, so shall God cause others to treat you.

Therefore, the events one encounters are spiritual matters. We must continually sow seeds of blessing and continually remove the foundations of curses. Some may say: I believe in the Lord, yet why do things remain this way? The reason is that you have sown seeds of curses for many years. Merely removing the curses takes time, and new curses may arise, naturally necessitating additional time. One must dismantle one's thoughts and identify one's own problems. God does not err; the problems invariably originate with us. Devote yourself to actively sowing seeds of blessing, so that you may reap fruits of blessing. Curses, too, bear fruit. Some of the fruits may be from seeds sown a decade ago; if you do not partake of them, who will? Consuming a portion is acceptable, provided you strive to eradicate the foundation of the curses. Some may sow seeds of blessing for three years; perhaps they will blossom after three years.

However, we must firmly grasp that whether seeds of blessing or curses, they require time to grow and sprout. Though such events occur in our lives, we must maintain faith in God, knowing that ultimately, there will be a reversal, for Jesus Christ took our sins upon Himself. We must walk a blessed path, not within the confines of business dealings, but within Jesus Christ. If we diligently keep and obey God's word, blessings dwell within. The problems we face today are the result of our choices. One's misfortune stems from the seeds of curses sown in the past. Today, we must sow seeds of blessing together, to become a blessing to all nations. Most importantly, to enter into blessing and live out our Mingding Destiny.

Conclusion

In navigating life, one must consider blessings and curses, rather than worldly notions alone. All of existence is the interplay of the spiritual realm. Deuteronomy 19 contains God’s instructions on spiritual principles. Why does the New Testament not say an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? It is because Jesus Christ has already repaid that dept for us. To live out destiny and not be caught in a vicious cycle makes it easier to overcome bad habits.

In the land the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, do not move your neighbour’s boundary stone, set up by your predecessors (Deuteronomy 19:14).