0219 采取主动对抗苦役
兴起，发光。《以赛亚书60:1》
在采取主动对抗苦差事方面，我们必须好像没有神那样采取第一步的行动。等待神来帮助我们是没有意义的——祂不会的。但一旦我们起来，我们立刻就发现祂就在那里。每当神给予我们灵感/激励时，采取主动突然就变成了一个道德议题——一个服服的问题。那么我们就必须做出顺服的事，而不是继续躺着无所事事。如果我们站起来发光，苦差事就会被神圣地转变了。
苦役是决定我们品格真实性的最好考验之一。苦差事是一种与我们所认为的理想工作相去甚远的工作，这是极其艰苦、卑微、令人厌烦和肮脏的工作。当我们经历它时，我们的灵命立即受到考验，我们就会知道我们的灵命是否真实。读约翰福音13章，在这一章里，我们看见道成肉身的上帝在做苦差事的最佳榜样——给渔夫洗脚。然后祂对他们说：「我是你们的主，你们的夫子，尚且洗你们的脚，你们也当彼此洗脚。」（约翰福音 13:14）。如果苦役是被上帝的光光照而发光，就需要神的激励。在某些情况下，一个人完成任务的方式会使这工作分别为圣且永远圣洁；那可能是一项非常普通的日常任务，但当我们看到它完成后，它就变得不同了。当主通过我们做某事时，祂总是会转化它。我们的主取了我们的肉身并改变了它，现在每个信徒的身体都成为「圣灵的殿」（哥林多前书6:19）。
来自章伯斯的智慧
对那些没有经历过痛苦的人，耶稣说：「我没有什么可以给你的；站稳自己的脚，挺起自己的肩膀（挺身而立）。我是为那些知道自己所面对的，远超出他能应付的，那些知道他无法触碰某些势力的人；若他让我来，我会为他做一切的事。只要让一个人承认他有需要，我就会为他做。」《痛苦的阴影》。
0219 Taking the Initiative Against Drudgery
Arise, shine… —Isaiah 60:1
When it comes to taking the initiative against drudgery, we have to take the first step as though there were no God. There is no point in waiting for God to help us— He will not. But once we arise, immediately we find He is there. Whenever God gives us His inspiration, suddenly taking the initiative becomes a moral issue— a matter of obedience. Then we must act to be obedient and not continue to lie down doing nothing. If we will arise and shine, drudgery will be divinely transformed.
Drudgery is one of the finest tests to determine the genuineness of our character. Drudgery is work that is far removed from anything we think of as ideal work. It is the utterly hard, menial, tiresome, and dirty work. And when we experience it, our spirituality is instantly tested and we will know whether or not we are spiritually genuine. Read John 13. In this chapter, we see the Incarnate God performing the greatest example of drudgery— washing fishermen’s feet. He then says to them, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14). The inspiration of God is required if drudgery is to shine with the light of God upon it. In some cases the way a person does a task makes that work sanctified and holy forever. It may be a very common everyday task, but after we have seen it done, it becomes different. When the Lord does something through us, He always transforms it. Our Lord takes our human flesh and transforms it, and now every believer’s body has become “the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” –The Shadow of an Agony