如今却蒙神的恩典……就白白地称义。(罗三24)
神恩惠的福音唤醒了人心灵强烈的渴望及同样强烈的怨恨,因为福音带来的启示,是难以下咽的。人有一种自傲,就是宁可一味施予,但要近前来接受不太愿意。我可以殉道舍生,可以献上自己,可以做任何事,但不要把我贬卑至只配下地狱的罪人,告诉我除了接受耶稣基督的救恩外,别无他法。
我们必须明白,人无法从神赚取或赢得什么;我们若不肯接受神的礼物,就不要指望得着什么。属灵最大的福气,就是认识到自己是一贫如洗;若未认识这一点,主就无能为力。我们若仍以为自己有所作为,他就无法为我们做什么。我们必须透过贫困缺乏的门进入神的国度。只要我们一日自恃、独立、自以为富足,神就一日无法为我们做什么。只有在我们感到属灵的饥饿时,才会接受圣灵。神藉圣灵把他的本性赐给我们,把耶稣活泼的生命赐给我们,把那“超自然的”放在我们里面。那“超自然的”一旦进入,就把我们提升至“天上”,我们就被高举在主耶稣所活的国度里了。(约三5)
祈祷◆噢,主啊,愿你使我重新获得敏锐的属灵洞察力;愿你藉着主耶稣基督丰富的恩典将我举起,进入你的光明中。在更多认识你和你的道路上,我是何等缓慢!
November 28: The Bounty Of The Destitute
“Being justified freely by His grace. . .” Romans 3:24
The Gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the revelation which it brings is not palatable. There is a certain pride in man that will give and give, but to come and accept is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom, I will give myself in consecration, I will do anything, but do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is to accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God; we must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest blessing spiritually is the knowledge that we are destitute; until we get there Our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us if we think we are sufficient of ourselves, we have to enter into His Kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are rich, possessed of anything in the way of pride or independence, God cannot do anything for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the essential nature of God is made effectual in us by the Holy Spirit, He imparts to us the quickening life of Jesus, which puts “the beyond” within, and immediately “the beyond” has come within, it rises up to “the above,” and we are lifted into the domain where Jesus lives. (John 3:5)