0815 新生的證據
你們必須重生。 《約翰福音 3:7》
對尼哥底母的問題：「人老了，如何能重生呢？」答案是：只有當他願意向生命中的一切死，包括他的權利、他的美德和他的宗教，並變得願意接受他以前從未體驗過的新生命時（約翰福音3:4）。這個新生命在我們有意識的悔改和通過無意識的聖潔而展現出來。
「凡接待他的…」（約翰福音 1:12）。我對耶穌的認識，是我自己內在靈性感知的結果，或只是我通過聽別人講才學習到的？我的生命中是否有什麼使我與主耶穌作為我個人的救主相連？我的屬靈歷史必須以對耶穌基督的個人認識為基礎。重生意味着我看見了耶穌。
「…人若不重生，就不能見神的國。」（約翰福音 3:3）。我是否只尋求神國的證據，還是我實際上認出祂絕對全權的掌管？重生給了我新的視力，讓我開始分辨神的掌管。祂的全權一直存在，但因着神忠於祂的本性，我無法看見，直到我自己接受了祂的本性。
「凡從神生的，就不犯罪…」（約翰一書 3:9）。我是在追求停止犯罪？還是已經真正停止犯罪了？從神生的，意味着我擁有祂超自然的能力來停止犯罪。聖經從不問「基督徒會犯罪嗎？」聖經強調基督徒不可犯罪。當我們不犯罪時，重生的工作在我們身上是有效的。我們不僅有能力不犯罪，而且我們實際上已經停止了犯罪。然而約翰一書 3:9 並不是說我們不能犯罪——它只是意味着如果我們順從在我們裡面的神的生命，我們就不會犯罪。
來自章伯斯的智慧
我們對神的看法有可能像熔化的鉛倒入專門設計的模具中一樣危險，當它又冷又硬時，我們就把它扔到不同意我們觀點的宗教人士的頭上。《真的門徒》
0815 The Evidence of the New Birth
You must be born again. —John 3:7
The answer to Nicodemus’ question, “How can a man be born when he is old?” is: Only when he is willing to die to everything in his life, including his rights, his virtues, and his religion, and becomes willing to receive into himself a new life that he has never before experienced (John 3:4). This new life exhibits itself in our conscious repentance and through our unconscious holiness.
“But as many as received Him…” (John 1:12). Is my knowledge of Jesus the result of my own internal spiritual perception, or is it only what I have learned through listening to others? Is there something in my life that unites me with the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior? My spiritual history must have as its underlying foundation a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. To be born again means that I see Jesus.
“…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Am I seeking only for the evidence of God’s kingdom, or am I actually recognizing His absolute sovereign control? The new birth gives me a new power of vision by which I begin to discern God’s control. His sovereignty was there all the time, but with God being true to His nature, I could not see it until I received His very nature myself.
“Whoever has been born of God does not sin…” (1 John 3:9). Am I seeking to stop sinning or have I actually stopped? To be born of God means that I have His supernatural power to stop sinning. The Bible never asks, “Should a Christian sin?” The Bible emphatically states that a Christian must not sin. The work of the new birth is being effective in us when we do not commit sin. It is not merely that we have the power not to sin, but that we have actually stopped sinning. Yet 1 John 3:9 does not mean that we cannot sin— it simply means that if we will obey the life of God in us, that we do not have to sin.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us. —Disciples Indeed