0228 现在你们信吗？
现在我们晓得你凡事都知道，也不用人问你，因此我们信你是从神出来的。耶稣说：「现在你们信吗？」《约翰福音16:30-31》
许多基督徒工人离开，将耶稣基督置于一旁，却试图出于责任感或因他们自己的分辨力感到需要来事奉祂；这原因实际上是缺乏耶稣复活的生命。我们的灵魂因依赖我们自己的宗教理解而失去了与神的亲密接触（见箴言3:5-6）。这不是故意犯的罪，没有附加的惩罚。但一旦一个人意识到他如何阻碍了他对耶稣基督的理解，并给自己带来了不确定性、悲伤和困难，他就会怀着羞愧和悔恨，不得不归回。
我们需要在更深的层次上依靠耶稣复活的生命，超过我们现今依靠的程度。我们应该养成在每件事上不断寻求祂的建言的习惯，而不是做出我们自己常识性的决定，然后请求祂祝福。祂不能祝福那些决定；那不属于祂的领域，而且那些决定脱离了现实。如果我们只是出于责任感做某事，我们就是试图要达到与耶稣基督竞争的标准。我们成为一个骄傲、傲慢的人，认为我们在每种情况下都知道该怎么做。我们把责任感放在我们生命的宝座上，而不是让耶稣复活的生命坐在宝座上。我们没有被告知要行走在我们的良心之光或责任感之光中，而是要「在光明中行走，如同神在光明中…」（约翰一书 1:7）。当我们出于责任感做某事时，很容易向他人解释我们行动的原因。但当我们出于顺服主而做某事时，就没有其他解释了——只有顺服。这就是为什么一个圣徒很容易被嘲笑和误解的原因。
来自章伯斯的智慧
信心的根源是对那一位的认识，而最大陷阱之一，就是认为神一定会带领我们到成功。《竭诚为主》，3月19日。
0228 Do You Now Believe?
“By this we believe….” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?” —John 16:30-31
“Now we believe….” But Jesus asks, “Do you…? Indeed the hour is coming…that you…will leave Me alone” (John 16:31-32). Many Christian workers have left Jesus Christ alone and yet tried to serve Him out of a sense of duty, or because they sense a need as a result of their own discernment. The reason for this is actually the absence of the resurrection life of Jesus. Our soul has gotten out of intimate contact with God by leaning on our own religious understanding (see Proverbs 3:5-6). This is not deliberate sin and there is no punishment attached to it. But once a person realizes how he has hindered his understanding of Jesus Christ, and caused uncertainties, sorrows, and difficulties for himself, it is with shame and remorse that he has to return.
We need to rely on the resurrection life of Jesus on a much deeper level than we do now. We should get in the habit of continually seeking His counsel on everything, instead of making our own commonsense decisions and then asking Him to bless them. He cannot bless them; it is not in His realm to do so, and those decisions are severed from reality. If we do something simply out of a sense of duty, we are trying to live up to a standard that competes with Jesus Christ. We become a prideful, arrogant person, thinking we know what to do in every situation. We have put our sense of duty on the throne of our life, instead of enthroning the resurrection life of Jesus. We are not told to “walk in the light” of our conscience or in the light of a sense of duty, but to “walk in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7). When we do something out of a sense of duty, it is easy to explain the reasons for our actions to others. But when we do something out of obedience to the Lord, there can be no other explanation— just obedience. That is why a saint can be so easily ridiculed and misunderstood.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success. –My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L