神爱世人,甚至将他的独生子赐给他们……(约三16)
救恩并不只是从罪恶中得解救,也不只是个人成圣的经历;救恩乃是神把人从自我解脱出来,与他合一。我个人对救恩的认识,是从脱离罪开始,以致个人成圣;可是救恩的真谛,是圣灵使我接触到神自己;因这超越自我千万倍的主宰震撼激荡,我被神的牺牲与舍弃吸引住了。
若有人说我们被召是要传圣洁与成圣之道,就偏差了。我们被召是要传耶稣基督。他救我们脱离罪,使我们成圣,这不过是神奇妙牺牲中的一部分。
真正的舍弃,是不会对本身所作的有所知觉,因为整个生命已经被那一位我们为他摆上的主所占有了。你若不知道何为放下舍弃,就不要随便讲说。除非你明白约翰福音三章16节里的意思:神怎样毫无保留地将自己赐给人;否则,你永不会明白何为舍弃。我们的舍弃就是把自己完全交给神,正如神为我们舍了自己,不计算代价一样。舍弃的后果如何,根本不会进入我们的视野,因为我们的生命已经充满了基督。
祈祷◆噢,主啊,今早让我为过往的一切赞美你——我是那么的任性,你却是那么的慈爱、长久忍耐、满有宽恕和亲切。
March 13: The Abandonment Of God
“God so loved the world that He gave. . .” John 3:16
Salvation is not merely deliverance from sin, nor the experience of personal holiness; the salvation of God is deliverance out of self entirely into union with Himself. My experimental knowledge of salvation will be along the line of deliverance from sin and of personal holiness; but salvation means that the Spirit of God has brought me into touch with God’s personality, and I am thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself, I am caught up into the abandonment of God.
To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification, is to get into a side eddy. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ. The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is part of the effect of the wonderful abandonment of God.
Abandonment never produces the consciousness of its own effort, because the whole life is taken up with the One to Whom we abandon. Beware of talking about abandonment if you know nothing about it, and you will never know anything about it until you have realized that John 3:16 means that God gave Himself absolutely. In our abandonment we give ourselves over to God just as God gave Himself for us, without any calculation. The consequence of abandonment never enters into our outlook because our life is taken up with Him.