双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：5月5日 施舍之间

5月5日

施舍之间

“你们要小心，不可将善事行在人的面前，故意叫他们看见，若是这样，就不能得你们天父的赏赐了。你施舍的时候，不要叫左手知道右手所做的，要叫你施舍的事行在暗中。你父在暗中察看，必然报答你。”

马太福音6:3

在福音书里面，主耶稣基督多次提到金钱。他的福音是属灵的，但他提及很多物质的事物，因为两者有一定的关联，尽管看起来有点矛盾。

耶稣说：「凯撒的物当归给凯撒，神的物当归给神。（马可福音12:17）但是他又告诉我们，凯撒也应该向神奉献，因为他也需要神的怜悯和恩典。

恩典和黄金是密不可分的。只要天国还要在地上见证，吗哪还是必需的，而且和我们的属灵生命密切相关。主说：“你们要给人，就必有给你们的，并且用十足的升斗，连摇带按，上尖下流地倒在你们怀里；因为你们用什么量器量给人，也必用什么量器量给你们。”（路加福音6:38）

这不仅仅是一个命令，也是对活出荣耀和丰盛生命的鼓励。如果一个人对金钱的态度正确，那将对他人生的几乎所有其他方面都有助益。

自私的、未重生之人的主要动机是“获取”，而虔诚的基督徒的主要动机应该是“给予”。当那个小儿子对父亲说：『父亲，请你把我应得的家业分给我。』，他就注定一事无成。（路加福音15:12）

耶稣说：“你们要给人，就必有给你们的。”这是一个应许。我们知道主耶稣从不食言。

今日祷告：

天父，我们感谢您如此的恩典，因为您给了我们生命。求祢引导我们同样也以我们所拥有的资源恩待他人，无论是金钱、时间、付出的努力还是我们的祈祷。我们这样祷告，奉耶稣的名，阿门。

May 5

ABUNDANT GIVING EQUALS ABUNDANT LIVING

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men,to be seen of them…But when thou doest alms,let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.Matthew 6:1-3

Again and again in the gospels,Christ mentioned money.Though His Gospel was spiritual,He had much to say about the material,because there is always a relationship between the two,paradoxical though it may seem.

He said,“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,and to God the things that are God’s(Mark 12:17).And yet He strongly hinted that God was entitled to some of Caesar’s money,and that Caesar stood in need of the mercy and grace of God.

So grace and gold are inseparably bound up together;and as long as God’s kingdom is upon earth,the need of earthly mammon is indicated and is closely tied to our spiritual life.

Our Lord’s command was,“Give,and it shall be given unto you;good measure,pressed down,and shaken together,and running over…”(Luke 6:38).Yet it was more than a command.It was an invitation to glorious and abundant living.If a person gets his attitude toward money straight,it will help straighten out almost every other area of his life.

The chief motive of the selfish,unregenerate person is“get.”The chief motive of the dedicated Christian should be“give.”The Prodigal Son set off a series of negative events marked for failure when he said to his father,“Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me”(Luke 15:12)But Jesus said,“Give,and it shall be given.”It is a promise,and we know that Jesus never breaks His promises.

Pray for the Day:

Father,we thank You that You are so generous because You have given us life.Lead us,in turn,to be generous to others with the resources that we have,whether they are money or time or effort or our prayer.We pray this in Jesus’Name,Amen.