清心的人有福了,因为他们必得见神。(太五8)
清心不单是纯真,它的含意比这个更广。清心是与神在灵里持久同心所产生的结果,所以我们需要在清心上不断长进。我们与神的关系可能正确,里面的心也没有玷污;但是外面生命的花朵,却可能受到玷污。神并没有保护我们免于这样的可能性,为要叫我们知道要保持异象,就必须持守个人的清洁。我们在神面前生命的兴盛,若有丝毫的玷污损伤,就必须放下一切,把它弄好。要记住异象在于品格——清心的人必得见神。
神用至高无上的恩典叫我们圣洁,但我们也要谨慎持守。我们这个身体会接触别人或其他思想,故很容易沾染污秽。不但里面的圣所要与神有正常的关系,就是外院,也必须与神赐给我们的圣洁,完全一致。外院一玷污,属灵的悟性就随即模糊了。要与主耶稣保持交通,就是说有一些事物不要去做,不要去想,更有些合法的事不要去摸。与人的关系上要不损个人的圣洁,有一个可行的方法,就是对自己说:那男人、那女人,在耶稣基督里是完全的!那个朋友,那个亲戚,在耶稣基督里是安全的。
祈祷◆为着我快要陷入平庸的生活中,我是何等的沮丧和惊骇!主啊,帮助我过着纯洁、有力和只爱慕着你的生活。
March 26: Vision By Personal Purity
“Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8
Purity is not innocence, it is much more. Purity is the outcome of sustained spiritual sympathy with God. We have to grow in purity. The life with God may be right and the inner purity remain unsullied, and yet every now and again the bloom on the outside may be sullied. God does not shield us from this possibility, because in this way we realize the necessity of maintaining the vision by personal purity. If the spiritual bloom of our life with God is getting impaired in the tiniest degree, we must leave off everything and get it put right. Remember that vision depends on character – the pure in heart see God.
God makes us pure by His sovereign grace, but we have something to look after, this bodily life by which we come in contact with other people and with other points of view, it is these that are apt to sully. Not only must the inner sanctuary be kept right with God, but the outer courts as well are to be brought into perfect accord with the purity God gives us by His grace. The spiritual understanding is blurred immediately the outer court is sullied. If we are going to retain personal contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean there are some things we must scorn to do or to think, some legitimate things we must scorn to touch.
A practical way of keeping personal purity unsullied in relation to other people is to say to yourself – That man, that woman, perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend, that relative, perfect in Christ Jesus!