1026 使命者是什麼人？
耶穌又對他們說，「…父怎樣差遣了我，我也照樣差遣你們。」 《約翰福音 20:21》
使命者是被耶穌基督差遣的人，正如祂被神所差遣。最大的控制因素不是人的需要，而是耶穌的命令。我們事奉神的激勵源泉就在我們後面，而不是在我們前面。今日的趨勢是把激勵擺在前面——把每件事物都一起掃到我們面前，讓它符合我們對成功的定義。但在新約里，激勵是放在我們後面，那就是主耶穌自己；我們的目標是對祂忠誠——執行祂的計劃。
個人對主耶穌和祂的觀點的依戀是不容忽視的一件事。在使命者工作中，最大的危險是神的呼召會被人的需要所取代，以至於人類對那些需要的同情將絕對性的壓倒被耶穌派遣的意義。需求是如此巨大，環境如此艱難，以至於我們心智每個力量都動搖和失敗了。我們容易忘記所有服事者工作背後的一個重要原因，並不是提升人們、他們的教育，也不是他們的需要，最首先和最重要的是耶穌基督的命令——「所以你們要去，使萬民作我的門徒。」（馬太福音 28:19）
當回顧屬神的那些男男女女的生命時，人們容易說：「他們有多麼奇妙敏銳和聰明的智慧，他們是多麼完全地理解神想要的一切！」但他們背後敏銳聰明的心思是神的心思，根本不是人的智慧。我們把功勞歸於人的智慧，當我們原本應該歸功於神的神聖指引時，那些引導是神藉着孩子般的人展現出來，就是那些「愚昧」到相信神的智慧和祂超自然裝備的人。
來自章伯斯的智慧
安慰者的位置不是傳道者的位置，而是那位什麼都沒說，卻為這事向神禱告的夥伴。對於那些正在受苦的人，你能做的最大之事，不是說些陳腔濫調，也不是提問問題，而是與神聯繫，「更大的事」將通過禱告做成（參見約翰福音 14:12-13）。《力圖更佳戰鬥》
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