1218 忠诚的考验
我们晓得万事都互相效力，叫爱神的人得益处，就是按他旨意被召的人《罗马书8:28》
只有忠心的人才真正相信神至高无上掌管他的处境。我们把自己的处境视为理所当然，说神掌管，但并不真正信之。我们的作为，好像事情发生完全是由人掌管的。要在每个处境中都忠诚，意思是我们只有一个忠诚或信心的对象——主耶稣基督。神可能会让我们的处境突然崩溃，那可能会让我们意识到我们对祂的不忠，因为我们没有辨识出祂已经命定了这种情况。我们从未看明祂试图要完成什么，而那同样的事件永远不会在我们生命中重演。这就是我们忠诚受考验临到之时。如果我们就是学会甚至在困难处境下也敬拜神，如果祂愿意的话，就会很快把情况变得更好。
忠于耶稣基督是我们今天试图要做的最困难之事。我们会忠于我们的工作、服事他人，或其他任何事情；就是别要求我们忠于耶稣基督。当我们谈到效忠耶稣时，许多基督徒变得非常不耐烦。基督工人比世人更有意地把我们的主从宝座上推下来。我们对待神就像祂是一台被设计来祝福我们的机器，我们也认为耶稣只是工人中的一个工人而已。
忠诚的目标不是我们要为神作工，而是祂可以自由地通过我们做祂的工。神呼召我们服事祂，并赋予我们巨大的责任。祂期待我们没有抱怨，祂那里并不提供什么解释。神要用我们，像用祂自己的儿子一样。
来自章伯斯的智慧
如果在我们里面所有败坏中只有一根信心的绳索，神也会抓住那一根。《不知往何处去》
1218 Test of Faithfulness
We know that all things work together for good to those who love God… —Romans 8:28
It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith— the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.
Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.
The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand. Not Knowing Whither, 888 L