0224 牺牲的欢欣
我也甘心乐意为你们的灵魂费财费力。《哥林多后书12:15》
一旦「所赐给我们的圣灵将神的爱浇灌在我们心里」，我们就会刻意地开始支持耶稣基督对他人生活中的利益和目的（罗马书5:5）。耶稣对每个人都有兴趣。在基督徒的服事中，我们没有权利受自己的兴趣和欲望的引导。事实上，这是我们与耶稣基督关系的最大考验之一。牺牲的欢欣在于我为我的朋友耶稣献出生命（见约翰福音 15:13）。我不将我的生命丢掉，但我乐意并有意地为祂和祂对其他人的利益而舍弃自己的生命。我这样做没有自己原因或目的。保罗一生只为一个目的而活——赢得人们归向耶稣基督。保罗总是吸引人们归向他的主，但从来不是归向他自己。他说：「向什么样的人，我就作什么样的人，无论如何，总要救些人。」（哥林多前书 9:22）。
当有人认为要发展圣洁的生活，他必须总是单独与神在一起时，他对别人就不再有任何用处了。这就像把自己置于高处，并将自己与社会其他人隔离开来。保罗是一个圣洁的人，但无论他走到哪里，他总是让耶稣基督随意用他的生命。我们许多人只对自己的目标感兴趣，而耶稣无法随意使用我的生命；但如果我们完全降服于祂，我们就没有自己服事的目标。保罗说，他知道如何成为「脚垫」而无怨恨，因为他生命的动力就是对耶稣的奉献。我们倾向于不委身耶稣基督，而委身于那些能让我们有更多灵性自由多过完全降服于祂的事物。自由根本不是保罗的动机；事实上，他说：「为我的弟兄，我骨肉之亲，就是自己被咒诅，与基督分离，我也愿意。」（罗马书 9:3）。保罗失去了理智的能力吗？一点也不是！对于恋爱中的人来说，这一点也不夸张；保罗深爱着耶稣基督。
来自章伯斯的智慧
真理是我们无需害怕，也无需克服什么，因为祂是万有的一切，我们是借着祂而得胜有余。认识这个真理并非奉承工人的英雄主义，而是令人惊奇地荣耀基督的工作。《蒙神悦纳》
0224 The Delight of Sacrifice
I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls… —2 Corinthians 12:15
Once “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” we deliberately begin to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ’s interests and purposes in others’ lives (Romans 5:5). And Jesus has an interest in every individual person. We have no right in Christian service to be guided by our own interests and desires. In fact, this is one of the greatest tests of our relationship with Jesus Christ. The delight of sacrifice is that I lay down my life for my Friend, Jesus (see John 15:13). I don’t throw my life away, but I willingly and deliberately lay it down for Him and His interests in other people. And I do this for no cause or purpose of my own. Paul spent his life for only one purpose— that he might win people to Jesus Christ. Paul always attracted people to his Lord, but never to himself. He said, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).
When someone thinks that to develop a holy life he must always be alone with God, he is no longer of any use to others. This is like putting himself on a pedestal and isolating himself from the rest of society. Paul was a holy person, but wherever he went Jesus Christ was always allowed to help Himself to his life. Many of us are interested only in our own goals, and Jesus cannot help Himself to our lives. But if we are totally surrendered to Him, we have no goals of our own to serve. Paul said that he knew how to be a “doormat” without resenting it, because the motivation of his life was devotion to Jesus. We tend to be devoted, not to Jesus Christ, but to the things which allow us more spiritual freedom than total surrender to Him would allow. Freedom was not Paul’s motive at all. In fact, he stated, “I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren…” (Romans 9:3). Had Paul lost his ability to reason? Not at all! For someone who is in love, this is not an overstatement. And Paul was in love with Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The truth is we have nothing to fear and nothing to overcome because He is all in all and we are more than conquerors through Him. The recognition of this truth is not flattering to the worker’s sense of heroics, but it is amazingly glorifying to the work of Christ. —Approved Unto God, 4 R