0507 为永恒而建造
你们哪一个要盖一座楼，不先坐下算计花费，能盖成不能呢？《路加福音14:28》
我们的主在这里不是指我们必须要计算的代价，而是指祂已经计算过的代价；那个代价就是在拿撒勒的那三十年，那三年的被人欢迎、毁谤和憎恨，祂在客西马尼园经历的深不可测的痛苦，以及加略山对祂的攻击——那成为整个时间与永恒转动的枢轴。耶稣基督已经计算过代价。归根结底，人们不会嘲笑祂说：「这个人开了工，却不能完工。」（路加福音 14:30）
我们的主在第 26、27 和 33 节中给予我们作门徒的条件，这意味着在祂伟大的建设工程中，祂要使用的男男女女，是那些祂在其中做了一切的人。「人到我这里来，若不爱我胜过爱自己的父母、妻子、儿女、弟兄，姐妹，和自己的性命，就不能作我的门徒。」（路加福音 14:26）。这经文告诉我们，我们的主在祂的建造事业中，只使用那些亲自爱祂、热切地爱祂和委身于爱祂的人——那些对祂的爱远远超出地球上任何最亲密的关系的人。条件是严格的，但它们荣耀的。
我们所建造的一切都将被神检验。当神用祂精炼之火鉴察我们的时候，神会察觉我们在耶稣的根基上建造了我们自己的事业吗？ （见哥林多前书 3:10-15）我们生活在一个巨大企业的时代，一个我们试图为神工作的时代，而这就是陷阱所在。深刻地说，我们永远不能为神作工。耶稣作为建造大师，接管了我们，以便祂可以完全指导和控制我们，为祂的企业和祂的建筑计划；无人有任何权利要求他将被安排在哪里工作。
来自章伯斯的智慧
耶稣基督可以承受被误解；我们不能。我们的弱点在于总是想要为自己辩护。《帮助之地》
0507 Building for Eternity
Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it… —Luke 14:28
Our Lord was not referring here to a cost which we have to count, but to a cost which He has already counted. The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred, the unfathomable agony He experienced in Gethsemane, and the assault upon Him at Calvary— the central point upon which all of time and eternity turn. Jesus Christ has counted the cost. In the final analysis, people are not going to laugh at Him and say, “This man began to build and was not able to finish” (Luke 14:30).
The conditions of discipleship given to us by our Lord in verses 26, 27, and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple ” (Luke 14:26). This verse teaches us that the only men and women our Lord will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion— those who have a love for Him that goes far beyond any of the closest relationships on earth. The conditions are strict, but they are glorious.
All that we build is going to be inspected by God. When God inspects us with His searching and refining fire, will He detect that we have built enterprises of our own on the foundation of Jesus? (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15). We are living in a time of tremendous enterprises, a time when we are trying to work for God, and that is where the trap is. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus, as the Master Builder, takes us over so that He may direct and control us completely for His enterprises and His building plans; and no one has any right to demand where he will be put to work.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves. –The Place of Help