0617 谨防批评他人
你们不要论断人，免得你们被论断。《马太福音7:1》
关于论断别人，耶稣的指示是非常简单，祂说：「不要」。一般基督徒是我们所知最尖锐的批评者。批评是人们日常活动之一，但在属灵的领域里，批评却一事无成。批评的效果就是分化了被批评者的力量。圣灵是唯一在合适位置上作出批评者，只有祂能够指出错误，而不伤害或损害。当你心存批评时，你是不可能进入与神的相交中。批评使你变得苛刻、报复和残忍，并留下一种安慰和奉承的想法，让你认为自己不知怎么地就是比别人更优越。耶稣说，作为祂的门徒，你应该培养一种从不批判的气质。这不会立即发生，但必须经过一段时间的培养，你必须时刻警惕任何让你自以为比人优越之事。
我生命无法逃脱耶稣的锐利的鉴察。如果我看到你眼中的小刺，就意味着我自己眼里有一根梁木了（见马太福音 7:3-5）。我在你身上看到的每个错事，神也在我身上找到。每次我论断时，我就定了我自己的罪（见罗马书2:17-24）。停下来拿尺子去衡量别人。在每个人的处境中，总是至少还有一个是我们一无所知的事实。神首先做的事就是给我们一次彻底的属灵洁净。在那之后，在我们里面就不可能再存留骄傲了。在我觉察到在我里面除了神的恩典之外还有什么之后，我从来没有遇到过一个我会绝望或彻底失望的人。
来自章伯斯的智慧
随着年龄的增长，我是否变得更高尚、更好、更有帮助、更谦卑呢？我是否展现出让人认识到与耶稣同在的生命？或者我是否变得更加自我主张，更加有意地坚持自己的方式？对自己说真话是一件很伟大的事情。《帮助之地》
0617 Beware of Criticizing Others
Judge not, that you be not judged. —Matthew 7:1
Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, “Don’t.” The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person.
There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see Matthew 7:3-5). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-24). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation. The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us. I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth.– The Place of Help, 1005 R