1113 信心或经历？
…神的儿子…祂是爱我，为我舍己。 《加拉太书 2:20》
我们应该与自己的情绪、感觉和情感搏斗，直到完全忠于主耶稣。我们必须击垮自己经验的小小世界，直到完全忠于祂。想想新约圣经中的耶稣基督是谁，然后想想我们借着说「我没有这种经历或那种经历」所展现出非常糟糕不足的可怜信心！想想信耶稣基督所宣告和护佑的——祂能把我们毫无瑕疵地呈现在神的宝座前，无可言喻的纯洁、绝对的公义和完全被称义。以绝对爱慕的信心站立「…在基督耶稣里…神又使他成为我们的智慧、公义、圣洁、救赎。」（哥林多前书 1:30）；我们怎么敢说为神的儿子做出牺牲呢！我们从地狱和全然毁灭中被拯救出来，然后我们竟然谈论为祂牺牲！
我们必须继续专注并坚定地相信耶稣基督——不是「祷告会」上的耶稣基督，也不是「书」上的耶稣基督，而是新约中的耶稣基督，祂是神成为肉身，祂应该把我们击打死在祂的脚下。我们的信心必须建立在那一位我们的救恩泉源上。耶稣基督要我们绝对、自由自在地委身于祂。我们永远无法体验耶稣基督，或自私地将祂拘禁在我们自己的心里。我们的信心必须建立在对祂坚定不移的信任上。
因为我们信任自己的经验，我们就看到圣灵对不信是坚持地不耐烦。我们所有的惧怕都是有罪的，我们以拒绝滋养我们的信心来制造出我们自己的惧怕。任何认同耶稣基督的人，怎么会受苦于怀疑或惧怕呢！我们的生命应该是一首绝对的赞美诗，从完美、无法抑制、胜利的信仰而来。
来自章伯斯的智慧
圣经是事实的联系，其中的真实性必须经过考验。生活可能会一帆风顺一段时间，突然间却发生丧亲之痛，或某个危机；单恋或新恋，灾难，生意倒闭，或令人震惊的罪，而我们再次打开圣经，神的话就直接触动我们心灵，我们会说：「哎呀，我以前在那里怎么从未见过呢！」《神手之荫》
1113 Faith or Experience?
…the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. —Galatians 2:20
We should battle through our moods, feelings, and emotions into absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus. We must break out of our own little world of experience into abandoned devotion to Him. Think who the New Testament says Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meagerness of the miserable faith we exhibit by saying, “I haven’t had this experience or that experience”! Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims and provides— He can present us faultless before the throne of God, inexpressibly pure, absolutely righteous, and profoundly justified. Stand in absolute adoring faith “in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption…” (1 Corinthians 1:30). How dare we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God! We are saved from hell and total destruction, and then we talk about making sacrifices!
We must continually focus and firmly place our faith in Jesus Christ— not a “prayer meeting” Jesus Christ, or a “book” Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, who is God Incarnate, and who ought to strike us dead at His feet. Our faith must be in the One from whom our salvation springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute, unrestrained devotion to Himself. We can never experience Jesus Christ, or selfishly bind Him in the confines of our own hearts. Our faith must be built on strong determined confidence in Him.
It is because of our trusting in experience that we see the steadfast impatience of the Holy Spirit against unbelief. All of our fears are sinful, and we create our own fears by refusing to nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! Our lives should be an absolute hymn of praise resulting from perfect, irrepressible, triumphant belief.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.” —Shade of His Hand, 1223 L