0404 通往永恒信心的道路
看哪，时候将到，且是已经到了，你们要分散…《约翰福音 16:32》
耶稣在这段经文中并没有责备门徒，他们的信仰是真实的，但那是混乱与不专注的，并且没有在重要实际生活中起到作用。门徒四散关心自己的事情，他们除了耶稣基督之外还有其他的兴趣。当我们通过圣灵的成圣工作与神有了完美的关系后，我们的信心就必须在日常生活的现实中操练。我们会被驱散，不是去服事，而是去面对生命的空虚，我们在其中会看到毁灭和贫瘠，知道面对神的祝福，内在的死亡意味着什么。我们准备好了吗？那当然不是我们自己的选择，而是神的设计，发动我们的环境将我们带到那里。直到我们经历那经历之前，我们的信仰只能靠感觉和祝福来维持。一旦我们到达那里，无论神将我们放在哪里，或者我们经历什么内在的空虚，我们都可以赞美神一切安好；这就是信心在现实生活中操练的含意。
「你们要分散… 留下我独自一人。」我们是否被驱散，留下耶稣独自一人，没有看到耶稣对我们的护佑关照呢？难道我们没有看到神在我们的环境中做工吗？黑暗时期是被允许的，经由神的主权降临到我们身上；我们准备好让神对我们做祂要做的吗？我们准备好与神明显的外在祝福分开吗？直到耶稣基督真正成为我们的主之前，我们每个人都有自己所服事的目标。我们的信仰是真实的，但还不是永恒的。神从不急躁。如果我们愿意等待，我们会看到神指出我们只对祂的祝福感兴趣，而不是对神自己感兴趣。感受神的祝福是信仰的根本。
「你们可以放心，我已经胜了世界。」（约翰福音 16:33）。我们需要的是不屈不挠的属灵毅力。
来自章伯斯的智慧
没有任何生活状态是我们不能住在耶稣里的。无论我们被安置何处，我们都必须学会住在祂里面。《我们辉煌的遗产》
0404 The Way to Permanent Faith
Indeed the hour is coming…that you will be scattered.—John 16:32
Jesus was not rebuking the disciples in this passage. Their faith was real, but it was disordered and unfocused, and was not at work in the important realities of life. The disciples were scattered to their own concerns and they had interests apart from Jesus Christ. After we have the perfect relationship with God, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, our faith must be exercised in the realities of everyday life. We will be scattered, not into service but into the emptiness of our lives where we will see ruin and barrenness, to know what internal death to God’s blessings means. Are we prepared for this? It is certainly not of our own choosing, but God engineers our circumstances to take us there. Until we have been through that experience, our faith is sustained only by feelings and by blessings. But once we get there, no matter where God may place us or what inner emptiness we experience, we can praise God that all is well. That is what is meant by faith being exercised in the realities of life.
“…you…will leave Me alone.” Have we been scattered and have we left Jesus alone by not seeing His providential care for us? Do we not see God at work in our circumstances? Dark times are allowed and come to us through the sovereignty of God. Are we prepared to let God do what He wants with us? Are we prepared to be separated from the outward, evident blessings of God? Until Jesus Christ is truly our Lord, we each have goals of our own which we serve. Our faith is real, but it is not yet permanent. And God is never in a hurry. If we are willing to wait, we will see God pointing out that we have been interested only in His blessings, instead of in God Himself. The sense of God’s blessings is fundamental.
“…be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Unyielding spiritual fortitude is what we need.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. —Our Brilliant Heritage, 946R