0922 服事者之主人與老師
你們稱呼我夫子，稱呼我主，你們說得不錯，我本來是…我實實在在地告訴你們，僕人不能大於主人…《約翰福音 13:13, 16》
擁有主人和老師並不等於被主宰，被人驅使和被教導；有主人和有老師，意味着有一位比我更了解我自己，比朋友更親近，能了解我內心最深處，並能全然滿足我內心的深處。那意味着有一位讓我安全地確知他已滿足並解決我心中所有疑慮、不確定性和問題。擁有一位主人和老師就是這樣，不折不扣地——「…只有一位是你們的師尊，就是基督…」（馬太福音 23:10）。
我們的主從不採取措施迫使我做祂想要的事。有時我希望神能主宰、掌控我，讓我做祂要我做的事，但祂不會；而有時我希望祂離開我，但祂沒有。
「你們稱呼我夫子，稱呼我主…」——但祂是嗎？老師、師尊和主在我們的詞彙中幾乎沒有什麼地位，我們更喜歡救主、使人成聖者和醫治者這些詞。唯一真正描述被主宰經驗之詞是愛，而我們對神在祂話語中所啟示的愛知之甚少。我們使用「服從、順從」這個詞的方式就證明了這一點。在聖經中，服從是建立在平等關係的基礎上，例如，子與父的關係。我們的主不僅僅是神的僕人——祂是神的兒子。「…他雖然為兒子…還是…學會了順從。」（希伯來書 5:8）。如果我們有意識地注意到我們正在被主宰，那麼這個想法本身就是我們沒有主人之明證。如果這是我們對耶穌的態度，我們離祂想要與我們的關係還很遠；祂希望我們的關係，是祂很容易是我們的主人和老師。如此自然，以至於我們沒有意識到這一點——一種關係，在其中我們只知道我們是祂的並順從祂。
來自章伯斯的智慧
我們都有這樣說話的技巧：但願我不是在如今這個環境中！但願我沒有與這些人一起生活！如果我們的信仰或宗教在我們所處的光景中不能幫助我們，我們要麼還需要經歷進一步的掙扎，要麼我們最好放棄那種信仰和宗教。《痛苦的陰影》
0922 The Missionary’s Master and Teacher
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am ….I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master… —John 13:13, 16
To have a master and teacher is not the same thing as being mastered and taught. Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better than I know myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depths of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties, and problems in my mind. To have a master and teacher is this and nothing less— “…for One is your Teacher, the Christ…” (Matthew 23:10).
Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what He wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what He wants, but He will not. And at other times I wish He would leave me alone, and He does not.
“You call Me Teacher and Lord…”— but is He? Teacher, Master, and Lord have little place in our vocabulary. We prefer the words Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer. The only word that truly describes the experience of being mastered is love, and we know little about love as God reveals it in His Word. The way we use the word obey is proof of this. In the Bible, obedience is based on a relationship between equals; for example, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not simply God’s servant— He was His Son. “…though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience…” (Hebrews 5:8). If we are consciously aware that we are being mastered, that idea itself is proof that we have no master. If that is our attitude toward Jesus, we are far away from having the relationship He wants with us. He wants us in a relationship where He is so easily our Master and Teacher that we have no conscious awareness of it— a relationship where all we know is that we are His to obey.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion. –The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L