双语灵修(葛培理牧师):9月4日 爱的提醒
9月4日
爱的提醒
我们这至暂至轻的苦楚,要为我们成就极重无比永远的荣耀。
哥林多后书4:17
基督是苦难的答案。
疾病、悲伤和罪恶都是伊甸园人类堕落的结果。疾病是犯罪的副产品,但这并非意味着基督徒不会受苦。圣经说:“义人多有苦难,但耶和华救他脱离这一切”(诗篇34:19)。
约伯受苦;保罗有个软弱;拉撒路病了;纵观历史,好人从未得到过免受疾病和软弱的应许。每个月都有很多人写信问我:“基督徒为什么会受苦?”请放心!基督徒受苦是有原因的。根据圣经,神的子民受苦的一个主要原因是:这是一个管教、试炼和塑造的过程。
圣经说:“你当心里思想,耶和华你神管教你,好像人管教儿子一样”(申命记8:5)。
圣经又说:“耶和华阿,你所管教,用律法所教训的人,是有福的”(诗篇94:12)。
圣经还说:“因为耶和华所爱的,他必责备;正如父亲责备所喜爱的儿子”(箴言书3:12)。
这些经文告诉我们,苦难的管教是我们进到完全的一个步骤。有时,它可能是天父对我们爱的提醒,让我们知道我们已偏离本分的道路。
伟大的基督教护教学家C.S.刘易斯在他生前写的最后一篇文章中说:“我们没有权利获得快乐,只有义务履行职责。”当然,我们履行职责时快乐就会来到。试试看吧!
今日祷告:
天父,我感谢祢爱的管教!求祢帮助我尽本分,凡事顺服祢;奉耶稣的名祷告,阿们。
September 4
A LOVE TAP FROM OUR HEAVENLY FATHER
For our light affliction,which is but for a moment,worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.2 Corinthians 4:17
Christ is the answer to suffering.
Sickness,sorrow,and sin all are the result of the fall of man in the Garden.Sickness is a by-product of transgression;but that does not mean that Christians are never afflicted.The Bible says,“Many are the afflictions of the righteous:but the Lord delivereth him out of them all”(Psalm 34:19).
Job was afflicted;Paul had an infirmity;Lazarus was sick;and good people throughout history have been promised no immunity from disease and infirmity.Scores of people write every month and ask me,“Why do Christians suffer?”Rest assured that there is a reason for Christian people being afflicted.One reason why God’s people suffer,according to the Bible,is that it is a disciplinary,chastening,and molding process.
The Bible says,“Thou shalt also consider in thine heart,that,as a man chasteneth his son,so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee”(Deuteronomy 8:5).
Again the Scripture says,“Blessed is the man whom thou chasteneth,O Lord,and teaches him out of thy law”(Psalm 94:12).
Again the Bible says,“For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth;even as a father the son in whom he delighteth”(Proverbs 3:12).
From these Scriptures we learn that the chastening of affliction is a step in the process of our full and complete development.It can sometimes be a love tap from our heavenly Father to show us that we have wandered from the pathway of duty.
In the last essay he wrote before he died,great Christian apologist C.S.Lewis said,“We have no right to happiness;only an obligation to do our duty.”Of course it is in our duty that happiness comes.Try it.
Pray for the Day:
Father,I thank You for Your loving discipline.Help me in the way of duty to obey You in all things;in Jesus’Name,Amen.
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