0825 牺牲与友谊
我乃称你们为朋友…《约翰福音 15:15》
我们永远不会知道自我牺牲的喜乐，除非我们在生活的每一个细节上都降服了。然而，自我的降服对我们来说是最难做到的。我们借着说「如果…..我会降服！」使降服是有条件的。或我们借着说：「我想我必须把我的生命奉献给神。」来面对降服。无论以哪种方式，我们永远都不会找到自我牺牲的喜乐。
然而一旦我们完全降服，弃绝自己交给耶稣，圣灵就会让我们尝到祂的喜乐。自我牺牲的终极目标是为我们的朋友舍命（见约翰福音 15:13-14）。当圣灵进入我们的生命时，我们最大的愿望就是为耶稣舍命。然而，自我牺牲的想法从来没有在我们的脑海中闪过，因为牺牲是圣灵的爱的终极表达。
我们的主是自我牺牲生命的榜样，祂完美地示范了诗篇 40:8：「我的神啊，我乐意照你的旨意行。」祂忍受了巨大的个人牺牲，然而却喜乐涌流。我是否曾经绝对顺服耶稣基督？如果祂不是我所寻求方向和引导的那一位，那么我的牺牲舍己就没有益处。但是，当我的眼睛专注于祂而做出牺牲时，祂的塑造影响力缓慢但确定地成为我生命中的明证（见希伯来书12:1-2）。
小心不要让你天然的欲望阻碍你在神面前在爱中行走。扼杀自然之爱最残酷方式之一，就是拒绝它，那是将爱建立在天然的欲望上而导致的。但圣徒唯一真正的欲望就是主耶稣。对神的爱不是感伤或情绪化的一些东西——对圣徒来说，像神一样去爱是可以想象到的最实际之事。
「我乃称你们为朋友…」我们与耶稣的友谊是基于祂创造在我们里面的新生命，与我们的旧生命没有相似之处或吸引力，而只与神的生命相似。这是一种完全谦卑、纯洁、委身于神的生命。
来自章伯斯的智慧
我们不是要宣扬行善。善行不是被宣讲的，而是要被实践的。《故我差遣你》
0825 Sacrifice and Friendship
I have called you friends… —John 15:15
We will never know the joy of self-sacrifice until we surrender in every detail of our lives. Yet self-surrender is the most difficult thing for us to do. We make it conditional by saying, “I’ll surrender if…!” Or we approach it by saying, “I suppose I have to devote my life to God.” We will never find the joy of self-sacrifice in either of these ways.
But as soon as we do totally surrender, abandoning ourselves to Jesus, the Holy Spirit gives us a taste of His joy. The ultimate goal of self-sacrifice is to lay down our lives for our Friend (see John 15:13-14). When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, our greatest desire is to lay down our lives for Jesus. Yet the thought of self-sacrifice never even crosses our minds, because sacrifice is the Holy Spirit’s ultimate expression of love.
Our Lord is our example of a life of self-sacrifice, and He perfectly exemplified Psalm 40:8, “I delight to do Your will, O my God….” He endured tremendous personal sacrifice, yet with overflowing joy. Have I ever yielded myself in absolute submission to Jesus Christ? If He is not the One to whom I am looking for direction and guidance, then there is no benefit in my sacrifice. But when my sacrifice is made with my eyes focused on Him, slowly but surely His molding influence becomes evident in my life (see Hebrews 12:1-2).
Beware of letting your natural desires hinder your walk in love before God. One of the cruelest ways to kill natural love is through the rejection that results from having built the love on natural desires. But the one true desire of a saint is the Lord Jesus. Love for God is not something sentimental or emotional— for a saint to love as God loves is the most practical thing imaginable.
“I have called you friends….” Our friendship with Jesus is based on the new life He created in us, which has no resemblance or attraction to our old life but only to the life of God. It is a life that is completely humble, pure, and devoted to God.
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