The Words of the Sudo Family
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The Words of the Sudo Family |
Sun
Myung Moon March 9, 2012
Philip said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves." (John 14:8-11)
Everyone wants to be a true man or a true woman. What is a true man or woman? Since we are born from physical parents, this means first of all that we should be a true son or daughter to them. A true son must love his parents even more than they want him to. He must understand that he is alive on earth because of them. He must be able to love his parents more than his own life. In this sense, are we true sons and daughters? No.
Next, a true man must be able to love his brothers and sisters more than his own life. When he marries, he must be able to love his spouse with this kind of love, or else he is not qualified to be a true husband. He must also be a true friend. A true man, then, must be a man of true love.
How can we say we are true? Truth is eternal, so true love towards parents, brothers and sisters, spouse, and friends must be eternal. We have all wanted to be true people from the beginning of our lives, but we cannot say that we are true. If we are not true, then we must be false, at least in part; in other words, we are impure.
God is the only true being. Therefore, if we can meet God and become one with Him, then we can become true. To do this, we must understand God, feel God -- touch God. Let me give you an example.
Many years ago I went out as a pioneer missionary to a small city in Japan where no one had ever taught the Principle before. In that city of about 300,000 people I was all by myself, and I had no money. God lost everything He created because of Satan; He had nothing left when He began to save man. In order to understand God's heart, we must come to be in the same situation as God was at the time of the fall. Thus, when I began to work in this city, I had no place to sleep, so I slept on a bench; I had nothing to eat, so I fasted.
I preached on the street every night, but no one heard me. Everyone just walked by, weary and isolated. My leader had told me that by doing this we would understand how God must have felt when He lost contact with humankind. God shouted! He looked and looked for His children, but no one responded. Finally one righteous person responded -- Noah. My leader said that if we could find one person after days and days of preaching, one person who could come to hear a lecture on the Principle and return to God, then we would be able to experience God's jubilant heart when He finally found Noah.
This was the advice my leader had given me, and I followed it. Fasting, and without money or a place to stay, I witnessed every day; but still I couldn't feel God's heart. In fact, I couldn't understand God at all. My leader had told me about all the wonderful experiences we could have, but I just felt tired and depressed and frustrated. I thought that no matter how many days I witnessed, it would be impossible for me to understand God's heart.
Then one day a student wanted to hear a lecture. I gave him lectures every day for almost one week. My efforts seemed to be successful, because he was very happy and very positive. But after he had heard the entire Principle he just said, "It makes sense, but I'm into my own thing. Thanks anyway. Goodbye!"
"Oh, no!" I thought. "Why can't you understand?" I almost cried. In truth, however, my feeling of grief didn't last for more than two or three days. "Oh, well," I thought, "He wasn't so good. It was inevitable. Now I have to find someone else
When I realized that I had forgotten him so soon, I became very sad. I had tried to love him every day; but when he turned away, I forgot my love very quickly. I was shocked by the realization that I had no true love, and I began to pray two or three hours every night. "Dear God, please show me why I can't love, why I can't understand Your heart. Why am I so distant from You? I thought I was a good man, but Heavenly Father, I am not a good man. I am a cruel, cold man. I have no real love. I am not qualified to be a missionary!"
I prayed and prayed every night for almost one week. Then suddenly one night an inspiration came. God's voice said, "It wasn't you, but I who witnessed to him, who loved him, and who lost him." In the very next moment, I felt that I understood everything, and I said, "Yes, Heavenly Father! It wasn't me, but You, God, who witnessed to him, who loved him, and who lost him. I thought it was me! I had only witnessed for a week; therefore, my love for him was not so great. When I lost him it didn't hurt me so deeply as it hurt You. It was just a scratch, because I didn't look for him as long as You have been looking for him."
Then I began to see through God's eyes. I had looked at that student through my own eyes, but Heavenly Father must have been looking at him with far different eyes. I had looked for him for only seven days, but God had been looking for him all his life. Heavenly Father must have been crying out to him, "My son, please come back to me!" every day, day and night, without rest for more than 20 years. In fact, since this young man was the fruit of human history, God must have been searching for him for 6,000 years -- even in the darkness, even in the cold of winter. In that moment I could understand.
I had loved him, but God's love was far greater than mine. The depths of God's love must be unfathomable. For thousands of years God looked for him and loved him and called out to him. Finally God was able to speak to him through me. My words were not my words, but God's words. Yet even though God had such deep truth and love, He could only speak and love to the extent that I could speak and love.
It was I who limited God's love and truth, because my own capacity was so small. Since God couldn't give enough love through me, the student couldn't understand His words and couldn't receive His heart. I couldn't be a channel for God; so the student disappeared, and God lost a son. His son was taken away by Satan to be involved in all the misery of Satan's world. God couldn't do anything because I didn't do anything; I didn't chase after him. How miserable my Heavenly Father was!
Now I could understand God's heart. I couldn't keep from crying, and from that night on I cried every night. I began to understand God's grief. I was becoming closer and closer to Him; I could feel His guidance and I knew that He was with me.
One day while I was witnessing door-to-door in the same city, I met a very negative woman. I told her why I had come, but she just said, "Get away." and slammed the door. I realized that she didn't slam the door in my face, but in God's face. It wasn't me whom she denied, but God. Still I was depressed and was about to go back to my little room when I thought, "If I retreat, God can't do anything. God will have to retreat." So instead of retreating, I began street preaching.
First however, I prayed to God: "Heavenly Father, please let me meet the most righteous person in this city After I had been preaching for about half an hour, an old lady appeared in front of me. While she stood silently in front of me, I noticed that her left eye was blind. She was so shabby that I thought she must be infested with lice. I had already forgotten my prayer that I wanted to meet the most righteous person in the city. When I finished preaching, she put her hand in her pocket and took out a small envelope made from a folded newspaper clipping. She opened it and took out two bills, the equivalent of two dollars. It was all she had. She bowed and gave them to me; then she disappeared. After a moment I thought, I must thank her, and so I ran after her and said, "Thank you:" That was all I said: It wasn't until I came back to my room and began to pray that I could understand deeply.
God knew I was the only person in that city who understood His new message of the Principle. God must have loved me the most, and yet I had been kicked out of somebody's house with the door slammed in my face; I had become sad and had asked my Father to let me meet the most righteous person in the city. God must have tried very hard to find that person. He must have searched from corner to corner of the city, from door to door, checking the people one by one. There must have been many beautiful girls, bright young students, scholars, presidents of companies and universities, pious Christians, ministers, priests, bishops, governors, and administrators. Yet God couldn't find the most righteous person among any of these. Finally He found this shabby old lady who seemed to be an outcast. She was the only one whom God could approve of out of 300,000 people. What a miserable God He was, not to be able to find any righteous person in the city but this one!
At first it meant nothing to me -- she was just a seedy old lady who came and gave me two dollars. I was not able to see her through God's eyes, from His point of view. Yet she offered all she had, and what a beautiful scene it was, really. God must have been consoled by the beauty of her heart and action. Then I began to understand how to love with true love. It is impossible to be true by myself; I need God. When I meet God and become one with God, then I can be true, because God is true.
Unless we see through God's eyes, however hard we may work, however much we may sacrifice, we won't have anything to do with God's heart. Only when we understand God's viewpoint and try to under- stand His heart through prayer and good works can we come close to Him. Then God can make us beautiful and pure.
If, when you listen to a Principle lecture, you think you are listening just to a lecturer, then you will have no connection with God. The lecturer is a channel for God. If you can sense God behind the lecturer, then you can realize that it is God who is speaking to you, and you can have a direct relationship with Him. If you pray deeply, then you can reach God's heart; and God will come down off the blackboard and become a living reality.
If you can't understand this point, then even if you meet the Messiah, you won't recognize him. When Jesus came, many people gathered around him, but they didn't know who he was. None of them could change their point of view to God's point of view. Even Jesus' disciple Philip couldn't understand that God was with Jesus because he couldn't see through God's eyes. Yet if you can change your point of view, then your understanding, your feeling, and your view of life will change and become centered on God. When you meet the Messiah, you'll be able to understand who he is, and you won't have to say, "Show me the Father:'
When we change from fallen man's point of view to God's point of view, we can understand God's heart. We may experience true grief, but we will also experience true hope, true love, and true happiness. Then we can become true men and women.