1125 属灵一致的秘诀
我断不以别的夸口，只夸我们主耶稣基督的十字架…《加拉太书 6:14》
当一个人刚刚重生时，他似乎是不一致的，因他不相关的情绪和生活中的外在事物或环境之故。使徒保罗在他的生活中有着强大稳定的根本一致性。因此，他可以让他外在生活虽有改变，却无内在苦恼，因为他扎根建基在神之上。我们大多数人灵性并不一致，因为我们更关心外在的一致性。在外在的表现上，保罗生活在地下室，批评他的人则活在上层；而这两个层面并未开始相互接触。但保罗的一致性是根深蒂固的，他一致性的伟大基础是在神救赎世界时所承受的痛苦，即基督的十字架。
要向你自己重述你的信仰，回到基督十字架的根基上，摒弃任何不以此为基础的信仰。在世俗历史中，十字架是微不足道的事情，但从圣经的角度来看，它比世界上所有王国都还重要。如果我们在讲道中不去思想神在十字架上的悲剧，我们的讲道就毫无成效。它不能将神的能量传递给人；它可能很有趣，但它毫无力量。然而，当我们传讲十字架时，神的能力就被释放出来。 「…神就乐意用人所当作愚拙的道理，拯救那些信的人…我们却是传钉十字架的基督。」（哥林多前书 1:21, 23）
来自章伯斯的智慧
耶稣基督可以承受被误解；我们不能。我们的弱点在于总是想要为自己辩护。《帮助之地》
1125 The Secret of Spiritual Consistency
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “…it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.…we preach Christ crucified…” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves. –The Place of Help, 1051 L