双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：12月20日 火热爱主

12月20日

火热爱主

……以我的忌邪为心，……

——民数记25:11

很奇怪，我们的世界在任何的领域都接受狂热的存在，只有属灵领域是个例外。我们的世界欣赏并理解一切的激情和狂热，但信仰的火热会受到质疑。当你带着极大的荣耀的热情投身到主耶稣基督的事业中时，你会被你的邻居认为是疯子，他们会觉得你在宗教领域里“走的太远了”。

整个教会历史中充满了诸如：威廉•克里、戴德生、约翰•佩顿、大卫·利文斯顿等等这样的名字，他们都被自己同时代的人们认为是疯子。他们的委身侍奉超越了那些喜爱沾沾自喜和喜爱当代舒适生活的人们所能理解的范畴。然而，归根到底，谁才真的是疯子呢？难道不是那些骄傲自满，喜欢以自我为中心，沾沾自喜、自命不凡的人吗？他们是如此的自私，以至于厌倦自己的自鸣得意，厌倦自己的娱乐，甚至厌倦他们自己。

今日祷告

主耶稣基督，让我带着满满的热情再次将我的生命奉献给祢！奉主耶稣基督的圣名，阿们！

The Spiritual Realm

He was zealous for my sake…

—Numbers 25:11

It is strange that the world accepts enthusiasm in every realm but the spiritual.The world appreciates and understands emotion and enthusiasm,until it becomes a religious fervor—then immediately it is suspect.When you bring a grand and glorious abandon to your dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ,you are thought by many of your neighbors to be mad,to have“gone too far”in religion.

The whole history of missionary enterprise is filled with names like William Carey,Hudson Taylor,John Paton,David Livingstone,and others,who were thought by their generations to be mad.Their dedication was beyond the understanding of those who loved the smugness and the ease of contemporary life…And yet,in the last analysis,who are the mad ones?Are they not the complacent,self-centered,and smug who are so selfish that they tire of their own smugness,tire of their pleasures,and even tire of themselves?

Prayer for the day

Let me rededicate my life to You,with complete abandonment,Lord Jesus.