1102 顺服或独立？
你们若爱我，就必遵守我的命令。《约翰福音14:15》
我们的主从不坚持顺服，祂非常明确地强调我们应该做什么，但祂从不强迫我们去做；我们必须出于与祂灵里合一而顺服祂。这就是为什么每当我们的主谈到门徒职分时，祂都会以「若 」开头，意思是「你不需要这样做，除非你想要做。」「若有人要跟从我，就当舍己… 」（路加福音 9:23）。换句话说，「要做我的门徒，就当放弃自己的权利，交给我。」我们的主不是在谈论我们的永恒地位，而是在谈论我们今生此时此地对祂的价值。这就是为什么听起来祂是如此严厉（见路加福音 14:26）。永远不要将这些话与说话者分开来试图理解之。
主没有给我规条，但祂把祂的标准说得非常清楚。如果我与祂的关系是爱的关系，我会毫不犹豫地照祂说的去做。若我犹豫不决，那是因为我另有所爱，我把某个人放在与祂竞争的位置，就是我自己。耶稣基督不会强迫我顺服祂，但我必须顺服。一旦我顺服祂，我就完成了我的属灵命定。我的个人生活可能充满了琐碎小事，是全然无关紧要的。但若我在看似随机的生活环境中顺服耶稣基督，它们就成为我见神面的针孔。然后，当我站着与神面对面，我必发现，通过我的顺服，成千上万的人就蒙祝福。当神的救赎使人类灵魂达到顺服的地步时，它总是会产生果效的。若我顺服耶稣基督，神的救赎就会通过我流向他人的生命，因为在顺服的行为背后，是全能神的实体。
来自章伯斯的智慧
我们可以通过其祂方式了解神的属性，但我们只能在基督的十字架中了解天父的心。《至善—祢伟大的救赎》
1102 Obedience or Independence?
If you love Me, keep My commandments. —John 14:15
Our Lord never insists on obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit with Him. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an “If,” meaning, “You do not need to do this unless you desire to do so.” “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Luke 9:23). In other words, “To be My disciple, let him give up his right to himself to Me.” Our Lord is not talking about our eternal position, but about our being of value to Him in this life here and now. That is why He sounds so stern (see Luke 14:26). Never try to make sense from these words by separating them from the One who spoke them.
The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself. Jesus Christ will not force me to obey Him, but I must. And as soon as I obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings, altogether insignificant. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. Then, when I stand face to face with God, I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed. When God’s redemption brings a human soul to the point of obedience, it always produces. If I obey Jesus Christ, the redemption of God will flow through me to the lives of others, because behind the deed of obedience is the reality of Almighty God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ. —The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 558 L