12月2日 信徒的完全

这不是说，我已经得着了，已经完全了……（腓三12）

以为神要把我们造成一个完全的样本，好表彰他的能力，这是个陷阱。神的目的是要我们与他合一。强调圣洁的运动，很容易使我们有一种观念，就是以为神要制造一些圣洁的样本，放在他的博物馆里。你若一心追求这种个人圣洁的观念，你生命的指标就不是神，而是你所称为彰显神的东西。你说：“神的旨意绝不会叫我生病。”若按神的旨意，他的儿子也要受压伤的话，为什么他不可以压伤你？神旨意的彰显，不在乎你认为圣徒应该怎样；你与耶稣基督的关系，才是最重要的。不论健康或生病，都要一心归依他。

信徒的完全，绝不是人的完全。信徒的完全是与神关系的完全，在人生毫不相干的大小事上显明出来。当你顺服主耶稣的呼召，第一件叫你惊讶的事，就是你所作的都无关痛痒。另一件叫你诧异的事，是别人都似乎过着合情合理的生活，他们的生活很容易使你觉得不需要神——即使单靠人努力与热心，也能达到神的要求。可是在失落的世界里，这是绝不可能的。我被召是要过一个与神有完美关系的生活，以致我的生命能引发别人对神的渴慕，而不是对我本身的钦仰。只顾自己，会减低给神使用的效能。神不是要把我塑造到十全十美，好放在陈列室里；他是要带领我到一个他可以使用我的地方。让神喜欢怎样做就怎样做。

祈祷◆主啊，今天早上，我察觉自己多么强烈的需要你；愿你照你在基督耶稣里的丰盛，满足我的需要，直至我完全被你的供应所改变。

December 2 Christian Perfection

“Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect. . . .” Philippians 3:12

It is a snare to imagine that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do; God's purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements is apt to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you go off on this idea of personal holiness, the dead-set of your life will not be for God, but for what you call the manifestation of God in your life. “It can never be God's will that I should be sick.” If it was God's will to bruise His own Son, why should He not bruise you? The thing that tells for God is not your relevant consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your real vital relation to Jesus Christ, and your abandonment to Him whether you are well or ill.

Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship to God which shows itself amid the irrelevancies of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that strikes you is the irrelevancy of the things you have to do, and the next thing that strikes you is the fact that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. Such lives are apt to leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary, by human effort and devotion we can reach the standard God wants. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in perfect relation to God so that my life produces a longing after God in other lives, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God is not after perfecting me to be a specimen in His show-room; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He likes.