0306 採取下一步
…就如在許多的忍耐、患難、窮乏、困苦中…《 哥林多後書6:4》
當你沒有來自神的異象，你的生活中不再有熱情，無人注視你、鼓勵你時，那就需要全能神的恩典採取下一步，在你對祂的委身，在閱讀和研究祂的話語中，在你的家庭生活中，或在你對祂的責任中。與傳福音相比，那需要更多神的恩典，以及更深依靠祂的意識，才能邁出下一步。
每個基督徒都必須通過將下一步落實到有血有肉的現實中，並親手行出來，以體驗道成肉身的本質。當我們沒有異象、沒有鼓勵、沒有進步，只體驗日常生活隨之有的瑣碎任務，我們就會失去興趣並放棄。從長遠來看，真正為神和神的子民作見證的是堅忍的毅力，即使當工作不能被別人看到時。而唯一要過不敗的生活的方法就是仰望神；求神讓你心靈的眼睛向復活的基督開啟，苦差事就不可能讓你灰心喪氣。永遠不要讓你自己認為做某些工作是有損你的尊嚴或對你來說太微不足道的，用約翰福音 13:1-17 中基督的榜樣來提醒你自己。
來自章伯斯的智慧
隨着年齡的增長，我是否變得更高尚、更好、更有幫助、更謙卑呢？我是否展現出讓人認識到與耶穌同在的生命？或者我是否變得更加自我主張，更加有意地堅持自己的方式？對自己說真話是一件很偉大的事情。《幫助之地》
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