0901 命定要聖潔
因為經上記着說：「你們要聖潔，因為我是聖潔的。」《彼得前書 1:16》
我們必須不斷提醒自己生命的目的，我們不是註定要快樂，也不是健康，而是聖潔。今天我們有太多的慾望和興趣，我們的生命就被它們消耗和浪費了；其中它們很多可能是對的、高尚的、好的，或許以後會得到滿足，但同時，神必須使它們對我們的重要性降低。唯一真正重要的，就是一個人是否願意接受使他成為聖潔的神。不惜一切代價，人必須與神有正確的關係。
我相信我需要聖潔嗎？我相信神能進入我裡面並使我聖潔嗎？如果你通過你的講道，讓我相信我是不聖潔的，那麼我就會產生反感憎恨你的講道。傳講的福音喚醒了我強烈的怨恨，因為它旨在揭露我的不聖潔，但它也喚醒了我內心強烈的渴望和慾望。神對人類只有一個預定的命定——聖潔。祂唯一的目標是培育出聖徒。神不是供人使用的某個永恆祝福機器，祂不是因可憐同情我們才來拯救我們，而是因為祂創造我們是要我們聖潔。通過基督十字架的贖罪祭，意味着神可以通過耶穌基督之死，使我恢復到與祂完全合一，我們之間不再有任何障礙。
切勿因對自己或他人的同情而容忍任何與聖潔神不相合的行為。聖潔就是你在神面前的行事為人、你口中所說的話、你心裡的每一個意念，都要絕對純潔，把你生活中的每一個細節都放在神自己的審視之下。聖潔不僅是神賜給我的，而且是神已經賜給我的禮物，要在我生命中展現出來的。
來自章伯斯的智慧
耶穌基督總是不屈服於我對自己權利的要求。我們的主關於門徒訓練的所有教導中，唯一一個基本要素就是捨棄、沒有計算、沒有任何自私的痕迹。《真的門徒》
0901 Destined To Be Holy
…it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” —1 Peter 1:16
We must continually remind ourselves of the purpose of life. We are not destined to happiness, nor to health, but to holiness. Today we have far too many desires and interests, and our lives are being consumed and wasted by them. Many of them may be right, noble, and good, and may later be fulfilled, but in the meantime God must cause their importance to us to decrease. The only thing that truly matters is whether a person will accept the God who will make him holy. At all costs, a person must have the right relationship with God.
Do I believe I need to be holy? Do I believe that God can come into me and make me holy? If through your preaching you convince me that I am unholy, I then resent your preaching. The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it is designed to reveal my unholiness, but it also awakens an intense yearning and desire within me. God has only one intended destiny for mankind— holiness. His only goal is to produce saints. God is not some eternal blessing-machine for people to use, and He did not come to save us out of pity— He came to save us because He created us to be holy. Atonement through the Cross of Christ means that God can put me back into perfect oneness with Himself through the death of Jesus Christ, without a trace of anything coming between us any longer.
Never tolerate, because of sympathy for yourself or for others, any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means absolute purity of your walk before God, the words coming from your mouth, and every thought in your mind— placing every detail of your life under the scrutiny of God Himself. Holiness is not simply what God gives me, but what God has given me that is being exhibited in my life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.–Disciples Indeed