双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：11月4日 新生

11月4日

新生

我们从前也都在他们中间，放纵肉体的私欲……然而神既有丰富的怜悯……当我们死在过犯中的时候，便叫我们与基督一同活过来……——以弗所书2:3-5

现代人的心灵饱受着各种痛苦的折磨，这使我想到了另一个时代，这种痛苦也同样折磨着那时的年轻人，他们就是生活在基督降生后的第一个世纪的那一代年轻人。他们迫切地想要改变，他们的努力针对的不是罗马帝国，亦非市政厅，而是个人。最终，他们的影响触及了整个社会及政治结构。简言之，这些新生的男女为一种独特的动力所充满。

时至今日，这种动力依然有效。千百年来，这动力曾在无数的生命中做工。我亲眼目睹了数千人的改变，耶稣称之为“新生”。这节经文告诉我们你不必持守老我，你可以成为一个新人。无论你有何挂虑——愧疚、焦虑、恐惧、仇恨——神都能解决。

今日祷告

主耶稣，我欢喜快乐，知道因着你救赎的大能，在我的生命中没有什么是不可改变的！奉主耶稣基督的圣名，阿们！

A New Birth

We started out bad,being born with evil natures….But God is so rich in mercy…he gave us back our lives again when he raised Christ from the dead…

—Ephesians 2:3,4(TLB)

I am reminded of a period when all the agonies that afflict modern minds were felt by another generation,the young people who lived during the first century after Christ.They too sought change,but they directed their efforts at individuals,not at the Roman Empire,not at City Hall.And eventually the whole social and political structure felt their impact.In short,those renewed men and women became filled with a unique dynamic force.

Today this same force is available to all people.Over the centuries it has worked in the lives of millions.I personally have seen thousands of people changed.Jesus called it“a new birth.”The Scripture tells us that you need not continue as you are.You can become a new person.Whatever your hang-up—guilt,anxiety,fear,hatred—God can handle it.

Prayer for the day

I delight in knowing,Lord Jesus,that there is nothing in my life that is incapable of being changed through Your redemptive power.