0923 服事者之目标
…对他们说：「看哪，我们上耶路撒冷去…」《路加福音 18:31》
在我们天然生命中，我们的野心会随着成长而改变，但在基督徒生命中，目标在一开始就被给出，且开始和结束是完全相同的，就是我们的主自己。我们始于基督，也终于基督——「…直等到我们众人…满有基督长成的身量…」（以弗所书4:13），而不仅仅是我们自己对基督徒生活应是什么的想法。服事者的目标是遵行神的旨意，而不是成为有用者或去赢得失丧者。服事者是有用的，也确实赢得了失丧的人，但这不是他的目标；他的目标是遵行主的旨意。
在我们主的生命中，耶路撒冷是祂在十字架上达到天父旨意顶峰之处，除非我们和耶稣一起去那里，否则我们与祂将毫无友谊或团契的。没有任何事物可改变我们的主往耶路撒冷去的路途，祂从来不匆忙穿过某些祂受逼迫的村庄，或在祂受祝福之处流连。无论是感激还是忘恩负义，丝毫都不能使我们的主偏离祂「上耶路撒冷」的心意。
「学生不能高过先生，仆人不能高过主人。」（马太福音10:24）。换句话说，发生在我们主身上的事情同样也会发生在我们往「耶路撒冷」的路上。神的作为将会通过我们展现出来，人们会得到祝福，一两个人会表示感激，而其余的人会显出完全忘恩，但任何事情都不可改变我们「上[我们的]耶路撒冷」。
「…就在那里把耶稣钉在十字架上…」（路加福音 23:33）。这就是当我们的主到达耶路撒冷时所发生的事情，那件事是我们得救之门。然而，圣徒们终点并未非被钉十字架，而是靠主的恩典以荣耀告终。与此同时，我们每个人的口号应该是说：「我也『上耶路撒冷去』。」
来自章伯斯的智慧
耶稣基督可以承受被误解；我们不能。我们的弱点在于总是想要为自己辩护。《帮助之地》
0923 The Missionary’s Goal
He…said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem…” —Luke 18:31
In our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord Himself. We start with Christ and we end with Him— “…till we all come…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:13), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. The goal of the missionary is to do God’s will, not to be useful or to win the lost. A missionary is useful and he does win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will of his Lord.
In our Lord’s life, Jerusalem was the place where He reached the culmination of His Father’s will upon the cross, and unless we go there with Jesus we will have no friendship or fellowship with Him. Nothing ever diverted our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned our Lord even the slightest degree away from His purpose to go “up to Jerusalem.”
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matthew 10:24). In other words, the same things that happened to our Lord will happen to us on our way to our “Jerusalem.” There will be works of God exhibited through us, people will get blessed, and one or two will show gratitude while the rest will show total ingratitude, but nothing must divert us from going “up to [our] Jerusalem.”
“…there they crucified Him…” (Luke 23:33). That is what happened when our Lord reached Jerusalem, and that event is the doorway to our salvation. The saints, however, do not end in crucifixion; by the Lord’s grace they end in glory. In the meantime our watchword should be summed up by each of us saying, “I too go ‘up to Jerusalem.’ ”
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves. –The Place of Help, 1051 L