1113 信心或經歷？
…神的兒子…祂是愛我，為我舍己。 《加拉太書 2:20》
我們應該與自己的情緒、感覺和情感搏鬥，直到完全忠於主耶穌。我們必須擊垮自己經驗的小小世界，直到完全忠於祂。想想新約聖經中的耶穌基督是誰，然後想想我們藉着說「我沒有這種經歷或那種經歷」所展現出非常糟糕不足的可憐信心！想想信耶穌基督所宣告和護佑的——祂能把我們毫無瑕疵地呈現在神的寶座前，無可言喻的純潔、絕對的公義和完全被稱義。以絕對愛慕的信心站立「…在基督耶穌里…神又使他成為我們的智慧、公義、聖潔、救贖。」（哥林多前書 1:30）；我們怎麼敢說為神的兒子做出犧牲呢！我們從地獄和全然毀滅中被拯救出來，然後我們竟然談論為祂犧牲！
我們必須繼續專註並堅定地相信耶穌基督——不是「禱告會」上的耶穌基督，也不是「書」上的耶穌基督，而是新約中的耶穌基督，祂是神成為肉身，祂應該把我們擊打死在祂的腳下。我們的信心必須建立在那一位我們的救恩泉源上。耶穌基督要我們絕對、自由自在地委身於祂。我們永遠無法體驗耶穌基督，或自私地將祂拘禁在我們自己的心裡。我們的信心必須建立在對祂堅定不移的信任上。
因為我們信任自己的經驗，我們就看到聖靈對不信是堅持地不耐煩。我們所有的懼怕都是有罪的，我們以拒絕滋養我們的信心來製造出我們自己的懼怕。任何認同耶穌基督的人，怎麼會受苦於懷疑或懼怕呢！我們的生命應該是一首絕對的讚美詩，從完美、無法抑制、勝利的信仰而來。
來自章伯斯的智慧
聖經是事實的聯繫，其中的真實性必須經過考驗。生活可能會一帆風順一段時間，突然間卻發生喪親之痛，或某個危機；單戀或新戀，災難，生意倒閉，或令人震驚的罪，而我們再次打開聖經，神的話就直接觸動我們心靈，我們會說：「哎呀，我以前在那裡怎麼從未見過呢！」《神手之蔭》
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