4) The Significance of the Life of Faith

When God created human beings, He certainly believed that He had created us as His object of infinite value. How then can human beings, who do not have the conviction of possessing ideal value as God's object, progress toward beings of infinite value with the same infinite conviction from the position of object? This is the primary problem.

We should long for an infinite life and make progress by determining for ourselves that God is the center of that value. The life of faith denies the earthly life within the realm of the finite and places life within the realm of the infinite, eternal life, a life in the Kingdom of Heaven as the standard. And through our daily life the life of faith always strives to absorb the element of life that can unite with the ideology of that infinite Kingdom of Heaven. In so doing, it tries to re-create the eternal life and maintain the point of unity with the realm of the infinite. Our life of faith is the same. When I say I am living a life of faith, I am not living on the earth in the ordinary sense. God has one great standard for His Dispensation, and within that standard, there is a focus point to which I should align myself. Such a focal point in my daily life and in my life as a whole. There should be such a focal point throughout our life.

What kind of life of faith is necessary for us today? The conclusion is simple. To connect with God's desire, God's situation, and God's heart. Wherever you may go, whatever work you may do under any circumstance, you should always strive to stand as a conditional offering of pledge in that specific day, time and environment. Such a life is the life of faith. You should know what you are trying to accomplish by going on this path. Imagine you are dying with the present state of your mind. Can you confidently think 'Oh, God is protecting and guiding me?' It is a serious situation. That is why the problem of death should be the uppermost struggle for the religious person. The life of faith seeks to resolve the problem of death while alive.

When a person decides 'My path is this', that person cannot relax. You may not know about the people who are facing a death-sentence. I have many experiences living together with such people; they are so serious as they await their sentence. When a person faces his last month in August (in which there is Korean Thanksgiving Day), it is impossible to describe the state of his heart as he appreciates every moment of that month. He appreciates even when there is a windy and stormy night. 'Oh, this would be my last experience with a storm.' You will feel the gasping of his serious heart as he experience all things with new emotion.

When we think about these things, how many among those who are walking the life of faith truly determine every day of one's life with such a seriousness and evaluate the life which has been given them by God? This is a serious problem. I can continually go on this path because I am in such a serious position. Even if others may waste their lives insignificantly, I do not. You have to have a clear mind. You must surely understand that our life of faith is not a path which receives judgment after death but receives judgment while we are alive.