1025 順服神的旨意
…向什麼樣的人，我就做什麼樣的人，無論如何，總要救些人。《哥林多前書 9:22》
基督工人必須學習如何在眾多微不足道、毫無價值的事物中，成為屬神的偉大價值和卓越的男男女女。永遠不要抗議說：「但願我在別的地方！」神所有的子民都是普通人，因神所賦予他們的目的而變得非凡。除非我們理智上有正確目標，且心中有愛，否則我們很快就會偏離，對神失去用處。我們不是選擇作神的工人；許多人刻意選擇成為工人，但他們並沒有神全能恩典或神大能話語的心意在他們身上。保羅全心、全意和靈魂都被耶穌基督降世所要完成的偉大目的所佔據，他從未偏離這一點。我們必須不斷直面自己這個核心事實——「…耶穌基督並他釘十字架」（哥林多前書 2:2）。
「是我揀選了你們…」（約翰福音 15:16），把這些話作為你神學中的一個很棒的提醒；不是你得到了神，而是神得到了你。神正在作工，彎曲、破碎、塑造，照祂所選擇的去做。祂為什麼要這麼做？祂這樣做只為了一個目的，就是祂可以說：「這是屬於我的男男女女。」我們必須在神的手中，以便於祂能將其他人安置在耶穌基督此一磐石上，就像祂安置了我們一樣。
永遠不要選擇成為一名工人，但是一旦神呼召你，如果你「…偏左右…」（申命記28:14），你就有禍了。祂會做在你身上的，是祂呼召你之前絕未做的，而祂會做在你身上的，是祂不做在他人身上的，讓祂按照祂的方式做吧。
來自章伯斯的智慧
基督徒生活中的許多痛苦並不是因為魔鬼與我們交鋒，而是因為我們從未理解我們本性的簡單法則。我們必須把身體視為基督耶穌的僕人：當身體說「坐下」，而祂說「去」，那就去！當身體說「吃」，而祂說「禁食」，那就禁食！當身體說「打哈欠」，而祂說「禱告」，那就禱告！《聖經倫理學》
1025 Submitting to God’s Purpose
I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. —1 Corinthians 9:22
A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s man or woman of great worth and excellence in the midst of a multitude of meager and worthless things. Never protest by saying, “If only I were somewhere else!” All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them. Unless we have the right purpose intellectually in our minds and lovingly in our hearts, we will very quickly be diverted from being useful to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no purpose of God’s almighty grace or His mighty Word in them. Paul’s whole heart, mind, and soul were consumed with the great purpose of what Jesus Christ came to do, and he never lost sight of that one thing. We must continually confront ourselves with one central fact— “…Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
“I chose you…” (John 15:16). Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose— that He may be able to say, “This is My man, and this is My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.
Never choose to be a worker, but once God has placed His call upon you, woe be to you if you “turn aside…to the right or the left…” (Deuteronomy 28:14). He will do with you what He never did before His call came to you, and He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Much of the misery in our Christian life comes not because the devil tackles us, but because we have never understood the simple laws of our make-up. We have to treat the body as the servant of Jesus Christ: when the body says “Sit,” and He says “Go,” go! When the body says “Eat,” and He says “Fast,” fast! When the body says “Yawn,” and He says “Pray,” pray! Biblical Ethics, 107 R