0314 屈服
順從誰，就作誰的奴僕《羅馬書 6:16》
當我開始審視是什麼掌控和主宰我時，我首先必須願意承認的，就是我才是那個要為自己的屈服負責任的人，不管屈服於什麼。如果我是自己的奴隸，那我就該受責備，因為在過去某個地方我屈服於自己。同樣地，如果我順服神，我如此做，那是因為在我生命中的某個時刻，我讓自己屈服於祂。
如果一個孩子向自私讓步，他會發現這是地球上最具奴役性的暴政。人類靈魂本身沒有任何力量能夠打破因屈服而產生本性的奴役。例如，屈服於任何具有貪慾的本性一秒鐘，儘管你可能會因為屈服而恨惡自己，你就會被那事物所奴役。 （謹記什麼是情慾——「我現在必須得到它」，無論是肉體的貪慾還是心靈的貪慾。）任何人類的力量都無法釋放或逃脫之，只能透過救贖的力量。你必須在徹底羞辱中把自己向唯一能夠打破你生命中支配力量的那位屈服，那就是主耶穌基督。「祂膏我…傳揚被擄的得釋放…」（見路加福音 4:18 和以賽亞書 61:1）。
當你屈服於某物事時，你很快就會意識到它對你巨大的掌控力。即使你說，「哦，我隨時可以放棄那個習慣」，你知道你做不到。你會發現這個習慣完全控制了你，因為你甘願屈服於它。唱「祂打破一切枷鎖」是很容易的，同時卻過着明顯向自己屈服的奴隸生活；但向耶穌屈服將會打破任何人生活中的各種奴役。
來自章伯斯的智慧
關於信神的偉大之處，就在於它使人在紛擾中不受干擾【風雨中的寧靜】。《以賽亞書注釋》，1376 R
0314 Yielding
…you are that one’s slaves whom you obey… —Romans 6:16
The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.
If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— “I must have it now,” whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. “…He has anointed Me…to proclaim liberty to the captives…” (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).
When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, “Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like,” you will know you can’t. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, “He will break every fetter,” while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. –Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R