1026 使命者是什么人？
耶稣又对他们说，「…父怎样差遣了我，我也照样差遣你们。」 《约翰福音 20:21》
使命者是被耶稣基督差遣的人，正如祂被神所差遣。最大的控制因素不是人的需要，而是耶稣的命令。我们事奉神的激励源泉就在我们后面，而不是在我们前面。今日的趋势是把激励摆在前面——把每件事物都一起扫到我们面前，让它符合我们对成功的定义。但在新约里，激励是放在我们后面，那就是主耶稣自己；我们的目标是对祂忠诚——执行祂的计划。
个人对主耶稣和祂的观点的依恋是不容忽视的一件事。在使命者工作中，最大的危险是神的呼召会被人的需要所取代，以至于人类对那些需要的同情将绝对性的压倒被耶稣派遣的意义。需求是如此巨大，环境如此艰难，以至于我们心智每个力量都动摇和失败了。我们容易忘记所有服事者工作背后的一个重要原因，并不是提升人们、他们的教育，也不是他们的需要，最首先和最重要的是耶稣基督的命令——「所以你们要去，使万民作我的门徒。」（马太福音 28:19）
当回顾属神的那些男男女女的生命时，人们容易说：「他们有多么奇妙敏锐和聪明的智慧，他们是多么完全地理解神想要的一切！」但他们背后敏锐聪明的心思是神的心思，根本不是人的智慧。我们把功劳归于人的智慧，当我们原本应该归功于神的神圣指引时，那些引导是神藉着孩子般的人展现出来，就是那些「愚昧」到相信神的智慧和祂超自然装备的人。
来自章伯斯的智慧
安慰者的位置不是传道者的位置，而是那位什么都没说，却为这事向神祷告的伙伴。对于那些正在受苦的人，你能做的最大之事，不是说些陈腔滥调，也不是提问问题，而是与神联系，「更大的事」将通过祷告做成（参见约翰福音 14:12-13）。《力图更佳战斗》
1026 What is a Missionary?
Jesus said to them again, “…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” —John 20:21
A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of success. But in the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, and is the Lord Jesus Himself. The goal is to be true to Him— to carry out His plans.
Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and to His perspective is the one thing that must not be overlooked. In missionary work the great danger is that God’s call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ— “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19).
When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, “What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!” But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were “foolish” enough to trust God’s wisdom and His supernatural equipment.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The place for the comforter is not that of one who preaches, but of the comrade who says nothing, but prays to God about the matter. The biggest thing you can do for those who are suffering is not to talk platitudes, not to ask questions, but to get into contact with God, and the “greater works” will be done by prayer (see John 14:12–13). Baffled to Fight Better, 56 R