双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：7月14日 颠倒的世界

7月14日

颠倒的世界

不要效法恶，只要效法善…..

——约翰三书11节

我们必须要把一个事实牢牢地刻在我们的头脑中，这个事实就是：我们活在一个颠倒的世界中！当人们应该彼此相爱的时候，他们却在彼此相恨。当人们应该友好相待的时候，他们却在互相争竞；当人们应该和平共处的时候，他们却在互相争斗；当人们应该疗伤的时候，他们却在彼此伤害；当人们应该相互分享的时候，他们却在彼此偷窃；当人们应该做对的事情时，他们却在犯错。

我曾经看到一个玩具小丑，他的头上顶着一个重物。不管把它放在什么位置，他总是回到一个颠倒的位置。你让它用脚或它的一边站好，当你一松手，它又翻回去头朝下。不悔改的人同样也是如此啊！无论你怎样做去改变他们，他们总是回到一个颠倒的位置。这就是为什么信徒与世界格格不入的原因。对于一个倒立的人来说，直立的人看上去反而是倒立的，对于一个罪人来说，一个正直的人就是畸形怪胎。基督徒的良善是对恶的斥责，他的正直正是这个颠倒世界的反射。

今日祷告：

主耶稣，祢为我献上了圣洁的生命，帮助我不向世界妥协。祷告奉耶稣的名，阿们。

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July 14

An Upside Down World

Follow not that which is evil, but that which is good……

——3 John 11

We must get this fact firmly fixed in our minds: we live in an upside-down world. People hate when they should love, quarrel when they should be friendly, fight when they should be peaceful, wound when they should heal, steal when they should share, do wrong when they should do right.

I once saw a toy clown with a weight in its head. No matter what position you put it in, it invariably assumed an upside-down position. Put it on its feet or on its side, and when you let go it flipped back on its head. Unregenerate people are just like that! Do what you may with them and they always revert to an upside-down position. That is why the disciples to the world were misfits. To an upside-down person, a right-side up person seems upside down. To a sinner, a righteous person is an oddity and an abnormality. A Christian’s goodness is a rebuke to the wicked; his being right-side up is a reflection upon the worldling’s inverted position.

Prayer for the day：

Let me never compromise my stand for You, Lord Jesus, who gave Your sinless life for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.