1月31日竭誠為主

131 你看清你的呼召沒有?

特派傳神的福音(特派有分別出來之意)。(羅一1

基本上來說,神呼召我們幷不是叫我們做聖潔的人,乃是要我們宣揚他的福音。因爲其中最要緊的,就是神的福音是永存的事實。人的良善、聖潔,固然不是那事實,而天堂、地獄也都不是,只有救贖才是。今日基督的工人最要瞭解的,就是這個。作爲工人,我們必須熟悉這個啟示,就是救贖是唯一的永存事實。個人的聖潔只是救贖的果,不是因。如果我們把信心寄托于人的良善上,以救恩爲果,試煉一來,我們就站立不住了。

保羅幷沒有說他分別自己,他乃說:神既喜悅將我分別出來……保羅對自己的性情,幷沒有過分的注意。我們的眼睛一天放在自己的成聖上,一天就不能進入救贖的實際裏去。許多工人一敗塗地,就是因爲他們的願望只爲自己的聖潔,而不是爲神。由于人性是墮落與污穢的,請不要叫我面對救贖崎嶇的現實吧!我要的,是神爲我做點什麽,叫我更欣賞自己。說這樣的話,表明神福音的實際尚未摸著我,我還未完全獻身,向神降服。保羅能夠忘我,毫無顧慮地撇弃一切,被神分別出來,爲的只是一個目標——傳揚神的福音(參羅九3

祈禱噢,主啊,對于你的救贖和全備的救恩,我的欣賞是何其吝嗇。主啊,驅使我産生更豐富的感恩;讓我永遠深愛主耶穌基督。


January 31 Do You See Your
Calling?

. . . separated to the gospel of God. . . —Romans 1:1

Our calling is not primarily
to be holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the gospel of God. The one
all-important thing is that the gospel of God should be recognized as the
abiding reality. Reality is not human goodness, or holiness, or heaven, or
hell— it is redemption. The need to perceive this is the most vital need of the
Christian worker today. As workers, we have to get used to the revelation that
redemption is the only reality. Personal holiness is an effect of redemption,
not the cause of it. If we place our faith in human goodness we will go under
when testing comes.

Paul did not say that he
separated himself, but “when it pleased God, who separated me . . .” (Galatians
1:15). Paul was not overly interested in his own character. And as long as our
eyes are focused on our own personal holiness, we will never even get close to
the full reality of redemption. Christian workers fail because they place their
desire for their own holiness above their desire to know God. “Don’t ask me to
be confronted with the strong reality of redemption on behalf of the filth of
human life surrounding me today; what I want is anything God can do for me to
make me more desirable in my own eyes.” To talk that way is a sign that the
reality of the gospel of God has not begun to touch me. There is no reckless
abandon to God in that. God cannot deliver me while my interest is merely in my
own character. Paul was not conscious of himself. He was recklessly abandoned,
totally surrendered, and separated by God for one purpose— to proclaim the
gospel of God (see Romans 9:3).

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