0306 采取下一步
…就如在许多的忍耐、患难、穷乏、困苦中…《 哥林多后书6:4》
当你没有来自神的异象，你的生活中不再有热情，无人注视你、鼓励你时，那就需要全能神的恩典采取下一步，在你对祂的委身，在阅读和研究祂的话语中，在你的家庭生活中，或在你对祂的责任中。与传福音相比，那需要更多神的恩典，以及更深依靠祂的意识，才能迈出下一步。
每个基督徒都必须通过将下一步落实到有血有肉的现实中，并亲手行出来，以体验道成肉身的本质。当我们没有异象、没有鼓励、没有进步，只体验日常生活随之有的琐碎任务，我们就会失去兴趣并放弃。从长远来看，真正为神和神的子民作见证的是坚忍的毅力，即使当工作不能被别人看到时。而唯一要过不败的生活的方法就是仰望神；求神让你心灵的眼睛向复活的基督开启，苦差事就不可能让你灰心丧气。永远不要让你自己认为做某些工作是有损你的尊严或对你来说太微不足道的，用约翰福音 13:1-17 中基督的榜样来提醒你自己。
来自章伯斯的智慧
随着年龄的增长，我是否变得更高尚、更好、更有帮助、更谦卑呢？我是否展现出让人认识到与耶稣同在的生命？或者我是否变得更加自我主张，更加有意地坚持自己的方式？对自己说真话是一件很伟大的事情。《帮助之地》
0306 Taking the Next Step
…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses. —2 Corinthians 6:4
When you have no vision from God, no enthusiasm left in your life, and no one watching and encouraging you, it requires the grace of Almighty God to take the next step in your devotion to Him, in the reading and studying of His Word, in your family life, or in your duty to Him. It takes much more of the grace of God, and a much greater awareness of drawing upon Him, to take that next step, than it does to preach the gospel.
Every Christian must experience the essence of the incarnation by bringing the next step down into flesh-and-blood reality and by working it out with his hands. We lose interest and give up when we have no vision, no encouragement, and no improvement, but only experience our everyday life with its trivial tasks. The thing that really testifies for God and for the people of God in the long run is steady perseverance, even when the work cannot be seen by others. And the only way to live an undefeated life is to live looking to God. Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to discourage you. Never allow yourself to think that some tasks are beneath your dignity or too insignificant for you to do, and remind yourself of the example of Christ in John 13:1-17.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth. — The Place of Help, 1005 R