1018 傳道者忠心的關鍵
…他們是為主的名出外…《約翰三書 7》
當我們的主問「你愛我嗎？」祂告訴我們，我們對祂的愛是如何表現出來的（約翰福音 21:17）。然後祂說：「餵養我的羊。」實際上，祂是說「你要認同我對其他人的關心」，而不是「要我認同你對其他人的關心。」哥林多前書 13:4-8 向我們表明這種愛的特徵——它實際上是神的愛的表達。我對耶穌的愛真正的考驗是非常實際的考驗，其餘的都是情緒化言語。
忠於耶穌基督，是聖靈在我裡面做成救贖的超自然之工——「所賜給我們的聖靈將神的愛澆灌在我們心裡…」（羅馬書5:5）。正是我內心的那份愛，透過我與我所遇見每個人接觸有效地工作。儘管我生活的常識看法似乎否定祂，並且好像是在宣稱祂的力量比不上晨霧之大，我仍保持忠於祂的名。
傳道者忠心的關鍵，乃是他不依戀任何人事物，除了我們的主自己之外。那不表示脫離我們周圍的外在；我們的主與生活日常事物有着令人驚訝的接觸，但祂的內心除了對神的依附，卻是對外界事物疏離。外部的疏離是一種跡象，就是我們往往對外部保持距離的事物，實際上卻是一種秘密而不斷增長的內心依附。
一個忠心傳道者的職責，是專註保持自己靈魂完全且持續地向主耶穌基督的本質敞開。我們的主嘗試差派出去做工的人都是平凡人，但他們是被對祂的忠貞所支配的人，那是通過聖靈的工作帶出來的。
來自章伯斯的智慧
文明是建立在意味着瞬間即永恆的原則之上。唯一永恆的是神，如果我把其他任何東西視為永恆，我就成了無神論者。我必須只建立在神的基礎上（約翰福音14:6）。《至善——禰偉大的救贖》
1018 The Key to the Missionary’s Devotion
…they went forth for His name’s sake… —3 John 7
Our Lord told us how our love for Him is to exhibit itself when He asked, “Do you love Me?” (John 21:17). And then He said, “Feed My sheep.” In effect, He said, “Identify yourself with My interests in other people,” not, “Identify Me with your interests in other people.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 shows us the characteristics of this love— it is actually the love of God expressing itself. The true test of my love for Jesus is a very practical one, and all the rest is sentimental talk.
Faithfulness to Jesus Christ is the supernatural work of redemption that has been performed in me by the Holy Spirit— “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit…” (Romans 5:5). And it is that love in me that effectively works through me and comes in contact with everyone I meet. I remain faithful to His name, even though the commonsense view of my life may seemingly deny that, and may appear to be declaring that He has no more power than the morning mist.
The key to the missionary’s devotion is that he is attached to nothing and to no one except our Lord Himself. It does not mean simply being detached from the external things surrounding us. Our Lord was amazingly in touch with the ordinary things of life, but He had an inner detachment except toward God. External detachment is often an actual indication of a secret, growing, inner attachment to the things we stay away from externally.
The duty of a faithful missionary is to concentrate on keeping his soul completely and continually open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The men and women our Lord sends out on His endeavors are ordinary human people, but people who are controlled by their devotion to Him, which has been brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Civilization is based on principles which imply that the passing moment is permanent. The only permanent thing is God, and if I put anything else as permanent, I become atheistic. I must build only on God (John 14:6). The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 L