0619 熱愛獻身的服事
你愛我嗎？…牧養我的羊。《約翰福音21:16》
耶穌並沒有說要使人們皈依你的思維方式，但祂說要照顧祂的羊，確保他們因認識祂而得到滋養。我們認為我們在基督徒工作中所做的就是事奉，然而耶穌基督稱事奉是我們向祂的所是，而不是我們為祂所作的。門徒訓練完全基於對耶穌基督的委身，而不是遵循特定的信念或教義。「人到我這裡來，若不愛我勝過愛…，就不能作我的門徒。」（路加福音14:26）。在這節經文中，沒有來自耶穌的爭論和壓力去跟隨祂。實際上，祂只是在說：「如果你想作我的門徒，你就必須單單委身於我。」一個被神的靈觸摸到的人會突然說：「現在我明白耶穌是誰了！」——這就是委身的根源。
今天，我們已經用教義的信仰取代了個人的信仰，這就是為什麼這麼多人致力於事業，而這麼少人委身於耶穌基督。人們並不是真的想要委身於耶穌，而只獻身於祂所創立的事。耶穌基督對當今受過教育者之心智，對那些只想要祂成為他們的朋友，對那些不願以任何其他方式接受祂的人來說，是深深的冒犯。我們的主首要的順服，是天父的旨意，而不是人的需要——救人是祂順服天父的自然結果。如果我只致力於人類的事，我很快就會精疲力盡，落到我的愛會動搖和跌倒的地步。但如果我個人熱愛耶穌基督，我就可以服事人，即使人們可能待我如「出氣筒」。門徒生活的秘訣是對耶穌基督的忠誠，那種生命的特質看似微不足道和溫順的；然而，它就像一粒麥子「落在地里死了」——它會發芽並改變整個田園的景觀（約翰福音12:24）。
來自章伯斯的智慧
新約根本不容許那些聲稱他是靠着恩典得救卻未生出恩典的好果子的人。耶穌基督以祂的救贖可以使我們的實際生活與我們的宗教信仰相符合。《登山寶訓研讀》
0619 The Service of Passionate Devotion
…do you love Me?…Tend My sheep. —John 21:16
Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate…, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”— that is the source of devotion.
Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape (John 12:24).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no allowance whatever in the New Testament for the man who says he is saved by grace but who does not produce the graceful goods. Jesus Christ by His Redemption can make our actual life in keeping with our religious profession. –Studies in the Sermon on the Mount