0530 是的—但是！
主啊，我要跟從你，但…… 《路加福音9:61》
假設神告訴你去做某事，那對你的常識來說是一個巨大的考驗，是完全違背了常識，你會怎麼做？你能退縮嗎？如果你養成了肉體行事的習慣，每次你受到考驗時你都會做它，直到你透過十足的決心打破這個習慣。靈性上亦為真，你會一次又一次地達到耶穌的要求，但每次你都會在真正的考驗點上退縮，直到你決心完全降服於神，將自己交給神。然而我們傾向於說：「是的，但是——假設我在這件事上確實服從神，那麼……」或者我們說：「是的，如果神對我的要求不違背我的常識，我會服從祂，但不要要求我在黑暗中邁出一步。」
耶穌基督要求那些信靠祂的人，有天然人所展現的同樣無拘無束、冒險的精神。如果一個人想做任何有價值的事情，他必須在某些時候冒着一切風險在黑暗中跳躍。在屬靈領域裡，耶穌基督要求你冒險，把你通過常識所堅持或相信的一切，藉着信心跳躍到祂所說的。一旦你順服了，你立刻就會發現祂說的話和常識一樣堅定一致的。
藉着常識的檢驗，耶穌基督的言論可能顯得瘋狂，但當你用信心的考驗來檢驗它們時，你的發現會以令人敬畏的事實充滿你的靈，即它們正是神的話語。要完全相信神，當祂給你帶來一個新的冒險機會時，將它獻給你，要確保你抓住它。我們在危機中表現得像異教徒一樣，整個群眾中只有一個人敢於將他的信心投資在神的品格中。
來自章伯斯的智慧
我們面臨當神溫柔時我們嚴厲，當神嚴厲時我們溫柔的危險。《神的愛—無敵安慰的信息》
0530 Yes—But…!
Lord, I will follow You, but… —Luke 9:61
Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about…?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”
Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.
By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L