0830 有用還是有關係?
不要因鬼服了你們就歡喜,要因你們的名記錄在天上歡喜。 《路加福音 10:20》
耶穌基督這裡是在說:「不要因你為我做的成功服事而歡喜,而要因你與我的正確關係而歡喜。」在基督徒的工作中,可能落入的一個陷阱是為成功的服事而歡喜——為神使用了你而歡喜。然而,如果你與耶穌基督有正確的關係,你將永遠無法完全衡量神將通過你所做的事。如果你保持與祂有正確的關係,那麼不管你的情況如何,或無論你每天遇到什麼人,祂都會繼續通過你傾倒「活水的江河」(約翰福音7:38)。實際上正是由於祂的恩慈,祂不讓你知道這一點。一旦你通過救贖和成聖與神建立正確的關係,要記住,無論你的處境如何,你都是被神都安置在其中。神會使用你的生命對所處環境的反應來實現祂的目的,只要你繼續「…在光明中行,正如神在光明中一樣。」(約翰一書 1:7)
我們今天的趨勢是強調服事;要謹防那些根據某人的有用性而請求幫助的人。如果你以有用性為試驗,那麼耶穌基督就是有史以來最大的失敗者。對於聖徒來說,方向和引導是來自神本身,而不是以聖徒的有用性來衡量的。是神通過我們所做的工作才算數,而不是我們為祂所做的工作。我們的主在一個人生命中所關注的,就是那個人與神的關係——這對天父來說是非常有價值的。耶穌正在「領許多的兒子進榮耀里去…」(希伯來書 2:10)
來自章伯斯的智慧
真誠意味着外表和實際完全一致。《登山寶訓研究》
830 Usefulness or Relationship?
Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. —Luke 10:20
Jesus Christ is saying here, “Don’t rejoice in your successful service for Me, but rejoice because of your right relationship with Me.” The trap you may fall into in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service— rejoicing in the fact that God has used you. Yet you will never be able to measure fully what God will do through you if you have a right-standing relationship with Jesus Christ. If you keep your relationship right with Him, then regardless of your circumstances or whoever you encounter each day, He will continue to pour “rivers of living water” through you (John 7:38). And it is actually by His mercy that He does not let you know it. Once you have the right relationship with God through salvation and sanctification, remember that whatever your circumstances may be, you have been placed in them by God. And God uses the reaction of your life to your circumstances to fulfill His purpose, as long as you continue to “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7).
Our tendency today is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make their request for help on the basis of someone’s usefulness. If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure who ever lived. For the saint, direction and guidance come from God Himself, not some measure of that saint’s usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him. All that our Lord gives His attention to in a person’s life is that person’s relationship with God— something of great value to His Father. Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory…” (Hebrews 2:10).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1449 L