一月十一日
那些……没有根（路8:13）
我的心哪！今晨要用这经句的亮光检查一下。你已经快乐地接受了主的话，并且大受感动；但是，要记清楚，耳中听受主话是一件事，心中真正接受耶稣又是一件事；有时表面的情感虽很热烈，而内心却实在刚硬，叫人受感的话语并不一定能持久。在这一个比喻里，被撒在磐石上的种子，上面仅有一层薄土；当种子发芽的时候，往下扎根受到硬石的阻挡，于是便倾全力尽量往上发芽，但是因为没有使它取得水分和养料的根，所以就枯干了。这是我的情形吗？我在肉身方面表现得异常茁壮美观，而内心的生活是否能赶得上呢？要长得好必须同时往上也往下生长才行。我的信心和爱心是否在耶稣身上扎根呢？若是我的心不受恩典的耕耘和培养，好种子虽或发长一时，但终必枯萎，因为在石头上，在未被耕碎、未被分别为圣的心上是不能发旺生长的。让我不要作一个长得又好看又迅速而不耐久的约拿的蓖麻；让我付出代价作跟随耶稣的人，最要紧的是叫我得到圣灵的力量，那末我心中就有了常存而持久的种子了。若我的心仍像我的本性那样刚硬，日头一晒，我的硬心也必帮着发出热度烤炙著埋藏不深的种子，不久我所信的就消灭了，我必大失所望。因此，天上的撒种者啊！求你先耕耘我，再把你的真理撒下，好让我为你结出许多子粒来。
January
11
“These
have no root.” –Luke 8:13
My soul, examine thyself this morning by the light of this text. Thou
hast received the word with joy; thy feelings have been stirred and a lively
impression has been made; but, remember, that to receive the word in the ear is
one thing, and to receive Jesus into thy very soul is quite another;
superficial feeling is often joined to inward hardness of heart, and a lively
impression of the word is not always a lasting one. In the parable, the seed in
one case fell upon ground having a rocky bottom, covered over with a thin layer
of earth; when the seed began to take root, its downward growth was hindered by
the hard stone and therefore it spent its strength in pushing its green shoot
aloft as high as it could, but having no inward moisture derived from root nourishment,
it withered away. Is this my case? Have I been making a fair show in the flesh
without having a corresponding inner life? Good growth takes place upwards and
downwards at the same time. Am I rooted in sincere fidelity and love to Jesus?
If my heart remains unsoftened and unfertilized by grace, the good seed may
germinate for a season, but it must ultimately wither, for it cannot flourish
on a rocky, unbroken, unsanctified heart. Let me dread a godliness as rapid in
growth and as wanting in endurance as Jonah’s gourd; let me count the cost of
being a follower of Jesus, above all let me feel the energy of His Holy Spirit,
and then I shall possess an abiding and enduring seed in my soul. If my mind
remains as obdurate as it was by nature, the sun of trial will scorch, and my
hard heart will help to cast the heat the more terribly upon the ill-covered
seed, and my religion will soon die, and my despair will be terrible;
therefore, O heavenly Sower, plough me first, and then cast the truth into me,
and let me yield Thee a bounteous harvest.
