1229 叛徒还是门徒？
从此他门徒中多有退去的，不再和他同行。《约翰福音6:66》
当神通过祂的圣灵和祂的话语，向你清楚显明祂的旨意时，你必须「在光明中行」（约翰一书 1:7）。即使你的思想和灵魂可能为此而激动，如果你不「在光明中行」，你就会沉落到一种束缚的境地，那从来就不是我们的主所设想的。精神上违背「天上来的异象」（使徒行传 26:19），会使你成为思想和观点的奴隶，那些是完全与耶稣基督无关的。不要看着别人说：「如果他能有这些观点并且亨通成功，为什么我不能？」你必须在已赐给你的异象「光明中行」。不要将自己与他人比较或论断他们，那是神和他们之间的事。当你发现自己最喜欢和深信不疑的观点与「天上来的异象」相冲突时，不要开始争论。如果你争辩，你就会有一种个人的财产感和权利意识，而耶稣并不看重这些东西。祂反对这些事，认为它们是与祂自己相悖所有事物的根源——「…因为人的生命不在乎家道丰富。」（路加福音 12:15）。如果我们看不到和理解这一点，那是因为我们忽视了主教导的根本原则。
我们倾向于躺平，沉浸在神显明祂旨意时我们所经历的美好时光的回忆中。但若神的光向我们揭示了新约的标准，我们却不努力去达标，甚至没有想要去做的倾向，那么我们就开始退步了。这意味着你的良心没有回应真理。在真理揭开之后，你再也不会一样。那一刻就标志着你要么继续更加委身成为耶稣基督的门徒，要么就像叛徒转身退后。
来自章伯斯的智慧
关于敬畏神的非凡之处，乃是当你敬畏神时，你一无所惧，然而若你不敬畏神，你凡事都怕。「敬畏耶和华的人是有福的。」《至善—朝圣者歌集》
1229 Deserter or Disciple?
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. —John 6:66
When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must “walk in the light” of that vision (1 John 1:7). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don’t “walk in the light” of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the “heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ. Don’t look at someone else and say, “Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why can’t I?” You have to “walk in the light” of the vision that has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the “heavenly vision,” do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you— things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself— “…for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). If we don’t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching.
Our tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one who either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;… The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L