0701 不可避免的懲罰
…若有一文錢沒有還清，你斷不能從那裡出來。《馬太福音 5:26》
天堂里沒有地獄的小角落。神定意要使你純潔、聖潔、正直，祂不會允許你有一刻逃脫聖靈的鑒察。當祂使你知罪時，祂敦促你立即接受審判，但你沒有順服。然後，不可避免的過程開始運作，帶來不可避免的懲罰。現在你已經「下在監獄裡了…若有一文錢沒有還清，你斷不能從那裡出來。」（馬太福音5:25-26）。然而你問：「這是憐憫慈愛的神嗎？」從神的角度來看，這是一個愛的榮耀事工。神將會讓你出來時變得純潔、無瑕疵、無玷污，但祂要你認識到你所展現出的本性——你要求自己的權利的本性。你願意讓神改變你的本性的那時刻，祂的再造能力就會開始運作。當你意識到神的目的是要你與祂自己建立正確的關係，然後與他人建立正確關係之時，祂就會傾盡宇宙的極限來幫助你走上正確的道路。要決定現在就做，說：「是的，主啊，我會寫那封信」，或「我現在就會與那個人和解。」
耶穌基督的這些教導是對你的意志和良心，而不是對你的大腦。如果你用頭腦去爭論登山寶訓中的這些經文，你就會使它對你內心的訴求變得遲鈍。
如果你發現自己在問：「我不明白為什麼我與神的靈性並未成長？」——然後問問自己，從神的角度來看，你是否正在償還你的債務。現在就做將來某一天你必須做的事情。每個道德問題或呼聲的背後都有一個「應該」——知道我們應該做什麼的知識。
來自章伯斯的智慧
我們不是要宣揚行善。善行不是被宣講的，而是要被實踐的。《故我差遣你》
0701 The Inevitable Penalty
You will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny. —Matthew 5:26
There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure, holy, and right, and He will not allow you to escape from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit for even one moment. He urged you to come to judgment immediately when He convicted you, but you did not obey. Then the inevitable process began to work, bringing its inevitable penalty. Now you have been “thrown into prison, [and]…you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny” (Matthew 5:25-26). Yet you ask, “Is this a God of mercy and love?” When seen from God’s perspective, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure, spotless, and undefiled, but He wants you to recognize the nature you were exhibiting— the nature of demanding your right to yourself. The moment you are willing for God to change your nature, His recreating forces will begin to work. And the moment you realize that God’s purpose is to get you into the right relationship with Himself and then with others, He will reach to the very limits of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide to do it right now, saying, “Yes, Lord, I will write that letter,” or, “I will be reconciled to that person now.”
These sermons of Jesus Christ are meant for your will and your conscience, not for your head. If you dispute these verses from the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will dull the appeal to your heart.
If you find yourself asking, “I wonder why I’m not growing spiritually with God?”— then ask yourself if you are paying your debts from God’s standpoint. Do now what you will have to do someday. Every moral question or call comes with an “ought” behind it— the knowledge of knowing what we ought to do.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed. So Send I You, 1330 L