1218 忠誠的考驗
我們曉得萬事都互相效力，叫愛神的人得益處，就是按他旨意被召的人《羅馬書8:28》
只有忠心的人才真正相信神至高無上掌管他的處境。我們把自己的處境視為理所當然，說神掌管，但並不真正信之。我們的作為，好像事情發生完全是由人掌管的。要在每個處境中都忠誠，意思是我們只有一個忠誠或信心的對象——主耶穌基督。神可能會讓我們的處境突然崩潰，那可能會讓我們意識到我們對祂的不忠，因為我們沒有辨識出祂已經命定了這種情況。我們從未看明祂試圖要完成什麼，而那同樣的事件永遠不會在我們生命中重演。這就是我們忠誠受考驗臨到之時。如果我們就是學會甚至在困難處境下也敬拜神，如果祂願意的話，就會很快把情況變得更好。
忠於耶穌基督是我們今天試圖要做的最困難之事。我們會忠於我們的工作、服事他人，或其他任何事情；就是別要求我們忠於耶穌基督。當我們談到效忠耶穌時，許多基督徒變得非常不耐煩。基督工人比世人更有意地把我們的主從寶座上推下來。我們對待神就像祂是一台被設計來祝福我們的機器，我們也認為耶穌只是工人中的一個工人而已。
忠誠的目標不是我們要為神作工，而是祂可以自由地通過我們做祂的工。神呼召我們服事祂，並賦予我們巨大的責任。祂期待我們沒有抱怨，祂那裡並不提供什麼解釋。神要用我們，像用祂自己的兒子一樣。
來自章伯斯的智慧
如果在我們裡面所有敗壞中只有一根信心的繩索，神也會抓住那一根。《不知往何處去》
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