0223 事奉的決心
人子來，不是要受人服事，乃是要服事人。《馬太福音20:28》
耶穌也說：「我在你們中間，如同服事人的。」（路加福音 22:27）。保羅的服事理念與我們的主一樣，「自己因耶穌作你們的僕人。」（哥林多後書 4:5）。我們不知何故就有這樣的想法：蒙召進入事奉的人乃是蒙召與眾不同、並高於他人。但根據耶穌基督的說法，蒙召是要成為他人的「腳墊」，蒙召成為他們的屬靈領袖，但絕不是他們的上級。保羅說：「我知道怎麼樣處卑賤……」（腓立比書4:12）。保羅的服事理念是為他人傾倒生命直到最後一滴。無論他受到讚美還是責備，都無關緊要。只要還有一個人不認識耶穌，保羅就會覺得對那人有服事的債，直到他真正認識耶穌為止 。但保羅事奉背後的主要動機不是對別人的愛，而是對他的主的愛。如果我們的奉獻為了人類的事業，我們很快就會被擊敗和心碎，因為我們經常會遭遇到其他人很大程度的忘恩負義。但如果我們受到對神的愛的激勵，任何程度的忘恩負義也無法阻止我們彼此服事。
保羅對基督如何對待他的理解是他決心服事他人背後的秘密。「從前我是褻瀆神的，逼迫人的，侮慢人的。」（提摩太前書 1:13）。換句話說，無論其他人如何惡待保羅，他們都無法像他曾經以惡意和仇恨對待耶穌基督那種程度對待他。一旦我們意識到耶穌已經服事了我們，甚至到了我們的卑微、自私和罪孽的深處，我們從別人那裡遇到的任何事情都無法耗盡我們為祂的緣故服事別人的決心。
來自章伯斯的智慧箴言
神創造人類，讓他成為地上、海里和空中生命之主，而他之所以不是，是因為他擅自掌握律法，成為自己的主，但卻不是其他之主。 《痛苦的陰影》
0223 The Determination to Serve
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve… —Matthew 20:28
Jesus also said, “Yet I am among you as the One who serves” (Luke 22:27). Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s— “…ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5). We somehow have the idea that a person called to the ministry is called to be different and above other people. But according to Jesus Christ, he is called to be a “doormat” for others— called to be their spiritual leader, but never their superior. Paul said, “I know how to be abased…” (Philippians 4:12). Paul’s idea of service was to pour his life out to the last drop for others. And whether he received praise or blame made no difference. As long as there was one human being who did not know Jesus, Paul felt a debt of service to that person until he did come to know Him. But the chief motivation behind Paul’s service was not love for others but love for his Lord. If our devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another.
Paul’s understanding of how Christ had dealt with him is the secret behind his determination to serve others. “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man…” (1 Timothy 1:13). In other words, no matter how badly others may have treated Paul, they could never have treated him with the same degree of spite and hatred with which he had treated Jesus Christ. Once we realize that Jesus has served us even to the depths of our meagerness, our selfishness, and our sin, nothing we encounter from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for His sake.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of nothing else. –The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L