你们称呼我夫子，称呼我主，你们说的不错，我未来是。（约十三13）
我们的主从不坚持他的主权；他从不说——“你必须这样”。他给我们绝对的自由。我们可以吐唾沫在他面前，像世人一样；也可以把他置诸死地，像昔日的人一样；他不会发一言。可是当他的生命藉救恩创造在我里面后，他在我身上便有绝对的主权。这属道德上的管治——“你配得”。只是我里面那不配的，拒绝向那配的俯伏。当我碰见一个比我圣洁的人，不肯去尊敬他，也不肯顺服从他发出的命令，这正暴露了我的不配。神往往用一些比我们好的人——不是知识上比我们好，而是比我们圣洁的人——来管教我们，直至我们服在他的管治之下，直至我们整个的人生态度都顺服他。
若我们的主坚持要我们顺服，他就成了一个管工，不再有什么权威了。他从不坚持要我们顺服，可是我们若真看见他，就必立时顺服。他很自然地成为我们的主，从早到晚我们都活在对他的钦慕之中。对顺服的看法，可以显示我在恩典中有多少长进。“顺服”一词，指到必须从泥坑中救拔出来。只有地位平等才有顺服，这是父子的关系，而非主仆的关係。“我与父原为一”，“他虽然为儿子，还是因所受的苦难学了顺从”。身子的顺服是要作救赎者，他顺服是因为他是儿子，而不是为了成为儿子而顺服。
祈祷◆主啊，带领我更加靠近你，直至我在你的工作中，对你愈来愈有用。
July 19: Authority over the Believer
You call me “Teacher” and “Lord,” and rightly so, for that is what I am. —John 13:13
Our Lord never insists on having authority. He never says, “You must.” He leaves us perfectly free. So free that we can spit in his face, as people did, so free that we can put him to death, as people did, and he will never say a word. But when his life has been created inside me by his redemption, I instantly recognize his right to absolute authority over me. It is a moral domination: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power” (Revelation 4:11).
Only the thing that is unworthy in me refuses to bow down to what is worthy. When I meet people who are more righteous than me, I must recognize their worthiness and obey what comes through them. If I don’t, it reveals my own unworthiness. God educates us through people who are a little better than we are—not intellectually better, but “holily” better. He does this until we come under the rule of the Lord himself. When we are under his rule, the attitude of our entire life is one of obedience to him.
The way I understand obedience reveals my growth in grace. We use the word obedience to mean the submission of an inferior to a superior. Our Lord used the word to describe a relationship of equals, that of a Son and a Father: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Jesus obeyed his Father not because he had no choice in the matter but because he loved him. “I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me” (14:31).
When we truly see our Lord, we cannot help but recognize his moral authority over us. We obey him instantly, eager to show our love for him: “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me” (v. 21).