他听见这话，就甚忧愁，因为他很富有。（路十八23）
这年轻富有的官黯然无语，忧忧愁愁地走了。他无话可说，他明白耶稣的话，不带半点怀疑，但主的话却叫他产生一种无以名状的忧愁。有过这样的经历吗？神曾否指着你最好的东西要你献给他？那或许是你某些特质、你所宝贵的关系、心灵与思想所想慕的事情，那时你忧愁得无言以对。主不会追逼你，也不求你，他每次在这事上遇着你，只会简单地说：“你若是认真的话，条件就是这些。”
“去变卖你所有的”，把一切在道德上可能成为你财产的东西挪去，赤裸裸的只剩下一个有意识的人站在神面前，然后把这个体交给神。争战就是在此 – 在神面前的决志。你是否忠于自己的意思，过于忠于主？若然，就很可能会听见他那叫你忧愁的严厉话。他所说的话的确严厉，只有对于那些具有他性情的人，才变得容易。当心不要让任何东西把主耶稣严厉的话削弱了。
我可以以个人贫乏为富足，或自觉一无是处，以致无法作主耶稣的门徒；我也可能太自觉于个人的价值，而无法作主的门徒。我能否在一无所有中，丢弃一无所有的自觉而真正一无所有？不然，我们便会变得灰心。灰心是自爱的幻灭，而自爱可以是爱上了对主耶稣的那份渴慕追求 – 而不是主自己。
August 18 Have You Ever Been Expressionless With Sorrow?
“And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.” Luke 18:23
The rich young ruler went away expressionless with sorrow; he had not a word to say. He had no doubt as to what Jesus said, no debate as to what it meant, and it produced in him a sorrow that had not any words. Have you ever been there? Has God's word come to you about something you are very rich in – temperament, personal affinity, relationships of heart and mind? Then you have often been expressionless with sorrow. The Lord will not go after you, He will not plead, but every time He meets you on that point He will simply repeat – If you mean what you say, those are the conditions.
“Sell all that thou hast,” undress yourself morally before God of everything that might be a possession until you are a mere conscious human being, and then give God that. That is where the battle is fought – in the domain of the will before God. Are you more devoted to your idea of what Jesus wants than to Himself? If so, you are likely to hear one of His hard sayings that will produce sorrow in you. What Jesus says is hard, it is only easy when it is heard by those who have His disposition. Beware of allowing anything to soften a hard word of Jesus Christ's.
I can be so rich in poverty, so rich in the consciousness that I am nobody, that I shall never be a disciple of Jesus; and I can be so rich in the consciousness that I am somebody that I shall never be a disciple. Am I willing to be destitute of the sense that I am destitute? This is where discouragement comes in. Discouragement is disenchanted self-love, and self-love may be love of my devotion to Jesus.