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"What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." (John 13:7.)
WE have only a partial view here of God's dealings, His half-completed, half-developed plan; but all will stand out in fair and graceful proportions in the great finished Temple of Eternity! Go, in the reign of Israel's greated king, to the heights of Lebanon. See that noble cedar, the pride of its compeers, an old wrestler with northern blasts! Summer loves to smile upon it, night spangle its feathery foliage with dewdrops, the birds nestle on its branches, the weary pilgrim or wandering shepherd reposes under its shadows from the midday heat or from the furious storm; but all at once it is marked out to fall; The aged denizen of the forest is doomed to succumb to the woodman's stroke!
As we see the axe making its first gash on its gnarled trunk, then the noble limbs stripped of their branches, and at last the "Tree of God," as was its distinctive epithet, coming with a crash to the ground, we exclaim against the wanton destruction, the demolition of this proud pillar in the temple of nature. We are tempted to cry with the prophet, as if inviting the sympathy of every lowlier stem-invoking inanimate things to resent the affront- "Howl, fir tree; for the cedar has fallen!"
But wait a little. Follow that gigantic trunk as the workmen of Hiram launch it down the mountain side; thence conveyed in rafts along the blue waters of the Mediterranean; and last of all, behold it set a glorious polished beam in the Temple of God. As you see its destination, placed in the very Holy of Holies, in the diadem of the Great King-say, can you grudge that "the crown of Lebanon" was despoiled, in order that this jewel might have so noble a setting?
That cedar stood as a stately prop in Nature's sanctuary, but "the glory of the latter house was greater than the glory of the former!"
How many of our souls are like these cedars of old! God's axes of trial have stripped and bared them. We see no reason for dealings so dark and mysterious, but He has a noble end and object in view; to set them as everlasting pillars and rafters in His Heavenly Zion; to make them a "crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of our God."
─Macduff.
"I do not ask my cross to understand.
My way to see-
Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand,
And follow Thee."
「所以我告訴你們,凡你們禱告祈求的,無論是什麼,只要信是得著的,就必得著。」馬可福音十一章24節
理智、感覺和意志是魂三重的主要行動,當基督徒完全瞭解在基督裏和祂所賜豐盛生命時,那三種行動就會指示分享完全的方法。
理智——我們必須不滿足於我們自己的思想,在恩典中長進,這樣我們就會清楚知道神應許在我們裏面成就什麼,以及祂要求我們做什麼。聖經指示,如果我們誠實帶著自己的罪和無能來到基督我們的王面前,祂會在我們裏面成就我們未曾想到的工作,你也清楚明白神應許你可向祂祈求。
渴望——當我們禱告時,要留意我們渴望得著什麼,以及能付上怎樣的代價。神常以渴望來回答我們的禱告,而其代價就是努力和自我犧牲,以及不受世界和肉體的引誘,讓聖靈來幫助我,但沒有強烈渴望和自我犧牲,就不會長進。
意志——意志是最重要的一部份,只有藉著堅定不移的信去使用神的恩賜,常常在中途我們就害怕發抖,甚至失望,但要以堅定的意志去瞭解神所賜予的是什麼。要單單信靠神,基督耶穌就會給我確據。祂要加添我們力量去征服肉體,降服聖靈的引導,當我們的渴望發展到堅固的意志,我們就會深信神一切的應許。
神的孩子:成千上萬的人利用這些方法經歷了完全在基督裏,起初他們並不相信,你若把自己更多擺在神的話語上,那基督的愛和能力會幫助你更快地進入信心的安息。停止你自己的努力!讓神在你裏面完成祂的計劃。
「有福了……」馬太福音五章3—10節
當我們閱讀耶穌言論的時候,不但平淡無奇,並且毫不經意地沉入下意識裡面去了。例如,八福僅僅只有柔和的表露,是為那些無能為力的人說的,但與我們這生活在剛性工作的世界中的人,是很少有用處的。雖然如此,我們不久會感覺八福裡面含有聖靈的爆炸性。當我們生活的環境使它們要爆炸的時候,它們就爆炸起來。當聖靈使我們回憶到某一福的時候。我們就要說:「那是怎樣一種驚奇的言語啊!」到了這個時候,我們必得決定服從或不服從,若是服從,那麼,在靈性上必然產生大的改變。那就是神的靈工作的方式。按照字句來解釋,我們無須乎重生,就能應用山上寶訓,山上寶訓的字句的解釋是小孩的玩意兒;若是照著神的靈應用到我們的環境中,只有聖徒能做到。
耶穌的教訓,是與我們平常觀察事物的方法殊不一樣,在開始時,你要感覺不快,當聖靈將耶穌基督的訓誨應用到我們的環境上來的時候,我們就要依從那些訓誨的方向,慢慢的適應在我們行為上和言語上。山上寶訓不是一組規條:是我們充滿聖靈之後,一種生活的說明。
「在這幾樣上服事基督的,就為神所喜悅,又為人所稱許。」羅馬書十四章18節
惟有我們完全相信神時,祂才能用我們。撒但並不怎麼在乎彼得否認主的經驗,牠在意的乃是藉著這一次的行為,使彼得的信心完全瓦解。無怪乎耶穌曾對彼得說:「但我已經為你祈求,叫你不至於失了信心……。」(路廿二32)由此我們可以瞭解撒但攻擊彼得的是他的信心,牠向我們挑戰的也是我們的信心。彼得前書一章7節說:「叫你們的信心既被試驗,就比那被火試驗,仍然能壞的金子更顯寶貴。」願我們都能經得起試驗。
無論我們失去任何東西,願我們穩穩地守住我們的信心。希伯來書的作者說:「……你們不可丟棄勇敢的心……。」(來十35)又勉勵我們:「……將可誇的盼望和膽量,堅持到底……。」(來三6)當然在我們守著我們信心的同時,也應該在多方面顯出我們的甜美、公義、及對基督的順服和得勝的信心。
不管任何事臨到,願我們不顧後果,擁有戰勝的態度、保持堅守到底的決心。當事情發生時,願我們視每一種情況為神所允許,並且在敵人面前高舉勝利的旗幟前進。讓我們奉耶穌的名說:「感謝神,常帥領我們在基督裡誇勝……。」(林後二14)