0510 采取主动
…有了信心，又要加上德行。《彼得后书1:5》
加上，意味着我们必须做某事。我们有个危险，就是忘记我们不能做神所做的，神也不做我们能做的。我们不能拯救或使自己成圣，那是神做的事。但神不会给我们好的习惯或品格，祂也不会强迫我们在祂面前正确地行事为人；我们必须自己来做这一切，我们必须「做成」神已在我们里面所做成「我们自己的救恩」（腓立比书2:12）。加上，意味着我们必须养成做事的习惯，在最初阶段这是很困难的。采取主动就是制造一个开始——指导你自己走必须走的路。
要当心你明知却故问道路的倾向。采取主动，停止犹豫，迈出第一步。当神对你说话时，要坚决立即凭靠信心采取行动，且绝不重新考虑或改变你最初的决定。当神告诉你做某事之时，如果你犹豫不决，你就是漫不经心，轻蔑地拒绝你所站立的恩典。你自己要采取主动，现在就做出意志的决定，并使自己无法回头的。断绝自己的后路，说「我会写那封信」，或「我会偿还那笔债」；然后就去做！使之不可撤销。
我们必须养成凡事仔细聆听神的习惯，养成找出神说什么并留意听从的习惯。如果当危机来临时，我们本能地转向神，我们就会知道这个习惯已经在我们身上形成了。我们必须在我们所在之地而非尚未到达之地采取主动。
来自章伯斯的智慧
文明是建立在意味着瞬间即永恒的原则之上。唯一永恒的是神，如果我把其他任何东西视为永恒，我就成了无神论者。我必须只建立在神的基础上（约翰福音14:6）。《至善——祢伟大的救赎》
0510 Take the Initiative
…add to your faith virtue… —2 Peter 1:5
Add means that we have to do something. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves— God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. We must “work out” our “own salvation” which God has worked in us (Philippians 2:12). Add means that we must get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages that is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning— to instruct yourself in the way you must go.
Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative— stop hesitating— take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you stand. Take the initiative yourself, make a decision of your will right now, and make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you, saying, “I will write that letter,” or “I will pay that debt”; and then do it! Make it irrevocable.
We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Civilization is based on principles which imply that the passing moment is permanent. The only permanent thing is God, and if I put anything else as permanent, I become atheistic. I must build only on God (John 14:6). –The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 L