信我的人……从他腹中要流出……(约七38)

耶稣不是说:“信我的人,要领受神丰盛的福分。”他乃是说:“信我的人,要从他里面流出领受的一切。”主的教训总是与自我实现相违。他的目的不是要发挥个人,而是要使人完全像他。神儿子的特质就是自我的倾倒。我们若相信耶稣,那么最重要的不是得着什么,乃是我们倒出多少。神不是造我们成为颗颗圆润的葡萄,乃是要把我们的甜汁挤出来。在属灵的领域里,生命不能以成功来衡量,而是要看我们倒出什么,这个也是我们无法估量的。

伯大尼的马利亚打破玉瓶,倒在耶稣的头上,没有人能看出是什么理由;门徒甚至看为浪费。但耶稣称赞马利亚这爱的倾尽,并说凡福音传到的地方,“也要述说这女人所作的以为纪念”。主若看见我们行马利亚所行的,不计较经济得失,完全献上给他的时候,他的喜乐是无法形容。神倾尽他儿子的生命,为拯救世界,我们能否为他倾尽生命?

“信我的人,从他腹中要流出活水的江河来。”——许多的生命会不断得着更新。如今是把生命之瓶打破的时候,不要再眷恋追求自我满足,要把生命倾出去。主正在问谁肯为他这样倾出?

祈祷◆噢,主啊,在绝对的贫乏中,我投向你。求你在肉身、思想、道德和灵性上临到我,使我有效地彰显你、归荣耀予你。

September 2: The Sacrament Of Sacrifice

“He that believeth in Me . . out of him shall flow. . . .” John 7:38

Jesus did not say – “he that believeth in Me shall realize the blessing of the fulness of God,” but – “he that believeth in Me out of him shall escape everything he receives.” Our Lord’s teaching is always anti-self-realization. His purpose is not the development of a man; His purpose is to make a man exactly like Himself, and the characteristic of the Son of God is self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain, but what He pours through us that counts. It is not that God makes us beautifully rounded grapes, but that He squeezes the sweetness out of us. Spiritually, we cannot measure our life by success, but only by what God pours through us, and we cannot measure that at all.

When Mary of Bethany broke the box of precious ointment and poured it on Jesus’ head, it was an act for which no one else saw any occasion; the disciples said it was a waste. But Jesus commended Mary for her extravagant act of devotion, and said that wherever His gospel was preached “this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” Our Lord is carried beyond Himself with joy when He sees any of us doing what Mary did, not being set on this or that economy, but being abandoned to Him. God spilt the life of His Son that the world might be saved; are we prepared to spill out our lives for Him?

“He that believeth in Me out of him shall flow rivers of living water” – hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed. It is time now to break the life, to cease craving for satisfaction, and to spill the thing out. Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him?