0721 天国之门道
虚心的人有福了…《马太福音5:3》
要谨防把我们的主视为仅仅是一位教师。如果耶稣基督只是一位教师，那么祂所能做的，是透过在我面前设定一个我无法达到的标准来使我沮丧。如果我不可能接近这么崇高的理想，那么向我提出它，又有什么意义呢？如果我从来都不知道的话，我会更快乐些。告诉我要成为我永远无法成为的人：要「清心」（马太福音5:8）、要去做超出我职责的事，或要完全献身于神，有什么益处呢？在祂的教导对我来说，除了崇高的理想之外，还具有其它意义之先，我必须认识耶稣基督是我的救主，否则那只会导致绝望。但当我被神的灵重生时，我认知耶稣基督的到来不仅仅是为了教导，祂来是为了使我成为祂教导我应该所是的人。救赎意味着耶稣基督可以将同样掌管祂自己生命的性情放在任何人里面，而神给我们的所有标准都是基于那个性情。
登山宝训的教导在天然人中产生一种绝望感——这正是耶稣要它做到的。只要我们有一些自以为是的想法，认为我们能够行出我们主的教导，神就会让我们继续下去，直到我们被路上的障碍物绊倒而暴露出自己的无知。只有在那时，我们才愿意像乞丐一样来到祂面前，并从祂那里领受。 「虚心的人有福了」，这是神国里的首要原则。耶稣基督国度的根基是贫穷，而不是财富；不是为耶稣做决定，而是有一种绝对徒劳的感觉，以至于我们最终承认：「主啊，我甚至无法开始这样做。」不然后耶稣说：「你们就有福了…」（马太福音 5:11）。这是通往天国的门道，然而我们花了如此长久的时间才相信我们实际上是贫穷的！认识到我们自己的贫穷，就把我们带到耶稣基督完成祂的工作的合宜位置。
来自章伯斯智慧之言
神设计环境要看我们如何行事。我们会成为天父的孩子？或会再次回到卑鄙、常识的态度？我们会冒一切风险并忠于祂吗？「你要至死忠心，我就赐给你生命的冠冕。」生命的冠冕意味着我将看到我的主最终获得了胜利，甚至在我身上也是。《至善—朝圣者歌集》
0721 The Doorway to the Kingdom
Blessed are the poor in spirit… —Matthew 5:3
Beware of thinking of our Lord as only a teacher. If Jesus Christ is only a teacher, then all He can do is frustrate me by setting a standard before me I cannot attain. What is the point of presenting me with such a lofty ideal if I cannot possibly come close to reaching it? I would be happier if I never knew it. What good is there in telling me to be what I can never be— to be “pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8), to do more than my duty, or to be completely devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as my Savior before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of a lofty ideal which only leads to despair. But when I am born again by the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come only to teach— He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The redemption means that Jesus Christ can place within anyone the same nature that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives us are based on that nature.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces a sense of despair in the natural man— exactly what Jesus means for it to do. As long as we have some self-righteous idea that we can carry out our Lord’s teaching, God will allow us to continue until we expose our own ignorance by stumbling over some obstacle in our way. Only then are we willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. “Blessed are the poor in spirit….” This is the first principle in the kingdom of God. The underlying foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possessions; not making decisions for Jesus, but having such a sense of absolute futility that we finally admit, “Lord, I cannot even begin to do it.” Then Jesus says, “Blessed are you…” (Matthew 5:11). This is the doorway to the kingdom, and yet it takes us so long to believe that we are actually poor! The knowledge of our own poverty is what brings us to the proper place where Jesus Christ accomplishes His work.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
God engineers circumstances to see what we will do. Will we be the children of our Father in heaven, or will we go back again to the meaner, common-sense attitude? Will we stake all and stand true to Him? “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” The crown of life means I shall see that my Lord has got the victory after all, even in me. The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 530 L