你们的义,若不胜于文士和法利赛人的义,断不能进天国。(太五20)

门徒的特征不是行善,而是有善的动机,因为他在神超然的恩中成了善。唯一超越善行的,就是成善。耶稣来,是要把胜过文士和法利赛人的义的新遗传,放进愿意的人里面。耶稣说:“你若做我的门徒,不单行为要正,连动机、梦想、心灵的隐秘处也要正。动机要纯正得连全能的神也无可指摘。” 谁能站在神永恒的光中无可指摘呢?只有神的儿子。而耶稣基督宣称藉着救恩,就能使任何人在他的性情上有份,使他纯洁如小孩子一样。神所要求的纯正,是人无法达到的,除非我里面能重新再造,而耶稣的救恩正成就这事。

人无法凭守律法得洁净,主耶稣给我们的也不是规则法条;他的教训是真理,只有他放进我们里面的性情,才可领会主救恩的奇妙。耶稣基督救恩的伟大奇妙在于祂更改了人里面的遗传罪性。他不是改变人性,乃是改变人的本源。

祈祷◆噢,主啊,发出你的光辉,让它运行在这地上,正如你曾在渊面上运行一样。在你属灵的领域中大大作工,帮助我竖立祷告的山岭,并借助云彩,将祝福沛然降下。

July 24: Disposition And Deeds

“Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in motive because he has been made good by the super-natural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to put into any man who would let Him a new heredity which would exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus says – If you are My disciple you must be right not only in your living, but in your motives, in your dreams, in the recesses of your mind. You must be so pure in your motives that God Almighty can see nothing to censure. Who can stand in the Eternal Light of God and have nothing for God to censure? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that by His Redemption He can put into any man His own disposition, and make him as unsullied and as simple as a child. The purity which God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is what Jesus has undertaken to do by His Redemption.

No man can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations; His teachings are truths that can only be interpreted by the disposition He puts in. The great marvel of Jesus Christ’s salvation is that He alters heredity. He does not alter human nature; He alters its mainspring.