Through eating and drinking God’s words that expose the substance of man’s corruption concerning selfishness and baseness, most of us acknowledge that what we think and do is all for ourselves and not for satisfying God. However, we do not actually have much true knowledge of ourselves. We often just rest content with matching our states with the corrupt ones that God exposes concerning man’s selfishness and baseness, but we do not seek God’s intention in his exposing so as to understand why God exposes man’s selfishness and baseness and what results he wants to achieve in man. Hence, our selfishness and baseness has never been removed. Therefore, it is necessary for us to know and dissect the substance of selfishness and baseness, and know such key matters as how base and ugly it is for us to live for ourselves, what dangerous consequences living for ourselves will lead to, how to live is meaningful, and so on, so that we can get rid of our selfish and base corrupt nature earlier and live for satisfying God.

Before we know and dissect the substance of our selfish innate nature, first we need to know the states and manifestations of being selfish. This is advantageous to our knowing the substance of our corruption. It needs only a little observation for us to find that many of our states and manifestations in the real life reflect the substance of our selfish innate nature. For example, some people believe in God not to pursue the truth and satisfy God but to receive blessings and peace. When they receive no blessings and suffer punishment, they complain that God is unrighteous, regret having taken the path of believing in God, or even say that God deceives people and fools people. Some people hasten to expend themselves when seeing outward disasters occur in rapid succession. But when seeing that the outward world is peaceful and safe, they become less zealous and begin to bustle and rush about again for the sake of their families and fleshes. Some people are full of drive and are willing to experience any hardship or difficulty when they have a position, but once they lose their position, they resist in their hearts, slack off and even have the thought of throwing up their duties and forsaking God. Some people want to receive double blessings from God after making some consecration and expending some efforts; when they receive no blessings and suffer punishment, they complain bitterly, regret their former efforts and spending, or even, more seriously, swear at God. Some people have worked for several years and suffered much, so they feel that they have capital and thus want to keep some articles and clothes offered by brothers and sisters for themselves; when their desires are not satisfied, they are disgruntled and have no heart to perform duty. Some people always care for their flesh and are choosy about their duties to perform; they always expect to find a relatively easy and cushy job and vainly hope to pay a little price in exchange for the pleasant destination. Some people have no burden for the church work and are unwilling to endure hardships or pay a price; they always feel it so hard to put their whole heart and strength into work every day, and thus always work perfunctorily and go through the motions; even if they make some efforts and do some work under others’ supervision, they will find a chance to take a rest later to make up for them. Some people are transferred to places where the conditions are poor to perform their duties; when they find that the conditions there are not after their hearts in every way, they complain about them and even want to escape and reject their commissions. Some people always look for various excuses and pretexts to vindicate themselves when they are dealt with for achieving no results in their work; they are unwilling to assume the responsibility or shift the blame onto others. Some people, when seeing that the new believers they water are lukewarm toward them, feel that the new believers have no regard for them, and thus want to give them up under the pretext that they do not pursue. Some people always think about their personal gains and losses when performing their duties: if they do not perform their duties, they are afraid that their families might have misfortunes; if they perform their duties, they do not want the interests of their flesh to suffer losses; so, they are compelled to perform some duties. Some people are preoccupied with the interests of their flesh and always work according to their own will and their personal preferences; they always take the easy course and only pursue to satisfy the interests of their flesh, without considering the interests of God’s family at all. Some people try never to offend anybody; when seeing the leaders have defects, they dare not point them out to them; when seeing the brothers and sisters have done something harmful to the interests of God’s family, they dare not point out to them in their presence; when seeing some people cause frustrations and disturbances in the church, they dare not stand out to stop them, lest they be offended and do harm to themselves, unable to uphold righteousness and safeguard the interests of God’s family. Some people are extremely selfish when getting along with others; they consider only themselves and not others, having no love for others, and others feel no warmth at all. And so on.

From the above states and manifestations, we can see that we have been too deeply corrupted by satan and are deeply influenced and poisoned by the satanic philosophy of “everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost.” In either speaking or doing things, we follow the principle of “gaining advantages only and suffering no losses” and seek personal gains anytime and anywhere. What we think and do is all for ourselves, and we even do not mind stooping to compromise in order to receive blessings and advantages. In a word, all the efforts we make are for ourselves, and there is not any made for God. As God says: “Everyone lives for himself. Everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost; this is the summary of man’s innate nature. It is for himself that he believes in God; it is much more for himself that he receives blessings; it is for himself that he gives up things for God’s sake; it is still for himself that he spends himself for God; and it is also for himself that he is faithful to God. In a word, everything is for himself to receive blessings. In the world, man does everything for receiving advantages; while believing in God, man does everything for receiving blessings. It is for receiving blessings that man gives up everything; it is for receiving blessings that man undergoes a lot of sufferings. All these are demonstrations of man’s corrupt innate nature.” All that God exposes is our real situation. We are all living for ourselves and are all seeking those debased and ugly things of the flesh. Such outlook on life as “everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost” has caused us to be greedy, crafty, malicious, base, and completely devoid of humanity and sense. At the same time as we enjoy God, we scheme against God, cheat God, make endless demands of God, and make endless bargains with God. We are simply extremely greedy, sinister, subtle, and base people. From the exposing of God’s words and our expressions, we can see that a selfish and base person believes in God completely for receiving blessings and advantages, and when he cannot achieve his purpose, he falls out with God, becomes God’s enemy, and departs from God. A selfish and base person is profit-driven and has his own intents whatever he does; he does not perform his duty willingly, but is compelled to make some efforts due to his fear of God’s hand of punishing man. A selfish and base person has no sense and has the most demands on God; he makes demands of God when he performs some duty, wants a reward when he spends himself a little, constantly complains when he pays a little price, and uses his work to barter with God in everything. A selfish and base person has no sense of justice, always safeguards his own interests and considers his personal gains and losses, and he would rather offend God than offend man. A selfish and base person does not lay stress on the interests of God’s family but always considers his personal interests and safety; he treats lightly that which God’s family has committed to him, not taking it seriously and unable to worry what God worries and think what God thinks. A selfish and base person is blinkered, narrow-minded, malicious-hearted, low in character, and devoid of normal humanity. A selfish and base person is unwilling to suffer for the truth; when he encounters things that do not match his notions or when his flesh suffers, he will complain against God and even forsake God. A selfish and base person has no conscience or sense; he does not know to repay God’s love but only knows to care for the enjoyment of his flesh and his personal gains and losses. A selfish and base person is self-seeking, insatiably greedy, sinister and diabolic; he stoops to anything to achieve his purpose and is an inhuman, ignoble, and base person. A selfish and base person is deceitful, crafty, and hypocritical, has ulterior motives, thinks in one way and behaves in another, makes mischief, and is good at disguising himself to cheat God and hoodwink man. A selfish and base person does not love the truth, and much less practice the truth. Therefore, a selfish and base person completely lives for himself and lives by satanic philosophies. Such a person is devoid of humanity and sense and is loathed and bitterly hated by God.