……神的儿子……他是爱我,为我舍己。(加二20)
我们要与自己的情绪搏斗,完全归向主耶稣;从自我的小圈子中出来,完全降服于他。试想想新约中的耶稣基督是谁,然后想想我们可怜的信心多么渺小—— “我没有这种经历,又没有那种经历!”试想想对主耶稣的信心该存的指望——他能把我们无可指摘地带到神的宝座前,完全无瑕疵,完全改变称义。站立在对他崇敬的信心中,他成为我们的智慧、我们的义、我们的成圣与救赎。我们凭什么说为神的儿子有所牺牲!从地狱和沉沦蒙救赎的人,竟胆敢说牺牲!
我们要持续保持对耶稣基督的信心;不是一个祈祷会里的耶稣;不是一本书中的耶稣,乃是新约中的耶稣,是神成了肉身,把我们治死在他脚前的那一位。我们的信心必须是对准给我们经历的那一位。主耶稣要求我们毫无保留地归给他。我们实在无法经历到主耶稣,也无法把他拘禁在我们心里,可是信心却对他有坚强不移的靠赖。
正是沿着这条思路,我们看见圣灵对不信的强烈不耐烦。一切的恐惧都是可恶的,我们恐惧是因为我们不肯在信心中培育自己。人若与主合一,怎可能再落在恐惧疑惑里?我们应该充满无法抑制、得胜的信心凯歌。
祈祷◆主啊,愿今天在我们眼前,展现你在我们当中那使人振奋和更新的临在,为此我们只有欣喜,因为我们对永恒如何具体介入时间之中,有了新的盼望。
November 13: Faith And Experience
“The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
We have to battle through our moods into absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus, to get out of the hole-and-corner business of our experience into abandoned devotion to Him. Think Who the New Testament says that Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meanness of the miserable faith we have – I haven’t had this and that experience! Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims – that He can present us faultless before the throne of God, unutterably pure, absolutely rectified and profoundly justified. Stand in implicit adoring faith in Him, He is made unto us “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” How can we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God! Our salvation is from hell and perdition, and then we talk about making sacrifices!
We have to get out into faith in Jesus Christ continually; not a prayer meeting Jesus Christ, nor a book Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, Who is God Incarnate, and Who ought to strike us to His feet as dead. Our faith must be in the One from Whom our experience springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute abandon of devotion to Himself. We never can experience Jesus Christ, nor ever hold Him within the compass of our own hearts, but our faith must be built in strong emphatic confidence in Him.
It is along this line that we see the rugged impatience of the Holy Ghost against unbelief. All our fears are wicked, and we fear because we will not nourish ourselves in our faith. How can any one who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! It ought to be an absolute pæan of perfectly irrepressible, triumphant belief.