1019 被忽视的秘密
耶稣回答说：「我的国不属这世界。」《约翰福音 18:36》
今天主耶稣基督最大的敌人，就是那种没有新约圣经基础的实务事工观念，那是来自世界体系的。那种事工坚持无穷尽的精力和活动，却与神毫无个人隐私的生活，把重点放在错误的事上。耶稣说：「神的国来到不是眼所能见的…因为神的国就在你们心里。」（路加福音 17:20-21），那是隐藏、模糊的事。活跃的基督工人往往活在被人看见中，然而最内在、个人的领域却显露出一个人生命的力量。
我们必须除去我们所处这个宗教时代的灵性瘟疫。在我们主的生命中，没有今天我们高度重视的压力和匆忙的事工活动，而门徒就该像他的主人一样。耶稣基督国度的核心点是与祂个人的关系，而不是我们对人的公开有用性。
这所圣经训练学院的力量不在于实际活动——它整个力量乃在于这个事实，就是你在这里，在祂面前，你沉浸在神的真理中。你根本不知道神将在哪里或如何安排你未来的处境，也不知道在家或在国外会带给你怎样的压力和张力。如果你把时间浪费在过度活跃的活动上，而非沉浸在神救赎伟大的基要真理中，那么当压力和张力真正临到时，你就会突然崩溃。但如果这段时间是花在扎根并立基于神，沉浸在祂面前，那看起来好像是不切实际，然而无论发生什么事，你都会保持对祂忠诚。
来自章伯斯的智慧
神设计环境要看我们如何行事。我们会成为天父的孩子？或会再次回到卑鄙、常识的态度？我们会冒一切风险并忠于祂吗？「你要至死忠心，我就赐给你生命的冠冕。」生命的冠冕意味着我将看到我的主最终获得了胜利，甚至在我身上也是。《至善—朝圣者歌集》
1019 The Unheeded Secret
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world.” —John 18:36
The great enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ today is the idea of practical work that has no basis in the New Testament but comes from the systems of the world. This work insists upon endless energy and activities, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation….For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). It is a hidden, obscure thing. An active Christian worker too often lives to be seen by others, while it is the innermost, personal area that reveals the power of a person’s life.
We must get rid of the plague of the spirit of this religious age in which we live. In our Lord’s life there was none of the pressure and the rushing of tremendous activity that we regard so highly today, and a disciple is to be like His Master. The central point of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship with Him, not public usefulness to others.
It is not the practical activities that are the strength of this Bible Training College— its entire strength lies in the fact that here you are immersed in the truths of God to soak in them before Him. You have no idea of where or how God is going to engineer your future circumstances, and no knowledge of what stress and strain is going to be placed on you either at home or abroad. And if you waste your time in overactivity, instead of being immersed in the great fundamental truths of God’s redemption, then you will snap when the stress and strain do come. But if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in Him, which may appear to be impractical, then you will remain true to Him whatever happens.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
God engineers circumstances to see what we will do. Will we be the children of our Father in heaven, or will we go back again to the meaner, common-sense attitude? Will we stake all and stand true to Him? “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” The crown of life means I shall see that my Lord has got the victory after all, even in me. The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 530 L