12月9日 天然生命的叛逆

凡属基督耶稣的人，是已经把肉体，连肉体的邪情私欲，同钉在十字架上了。（加五24）

天然生命不是罪恶的，我们必须脱离罪，不再与罪有任何瓜葛。罪属于地狱和魔鬼；我，神的儿女，属于天堂和神。问题不是要放弃罪，而是放弃自己的主权，我天然的独断与自恃，是争战之所在地。天然观点看来善美正确的东西，往往使我们得不着神最好的。天然善行往往是降服于神的拦阻。洞悉这一点，就到了心灵大战的核心。少有人为错失、卑污、邪恶争辩，但却会为善德争辩。善事是至善的对头，天然善行愈高，与耶稣基督的敌对就愈劲。“在基督里的人是把肉体钉在十字架上了。”你要付出天然生命的一切，不是一部分。耶稣说：“人若要作我的门徒，就当舍己。”就是放下自己的主权；人先要认识耶稣基督是谁，才能这样放下。当心，不要拒绝参加你自主权的丧礼。

天然生命不是属灵的，只有献上，才成为属灵。若不彻底把天然生命当祭物献上，超然的生命就无法在我们里面成为天然的。这条不是康庄大道，各人必须下定决心。这也不是祈祷的问题，而是行动的问题。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，我何等肯定自己需要对你有一个更崇高的观念。在这个祈求中，我愿放下所有次要的东西，为了叫自己配去荣耀你。

December 9 The Offence Of The Natural

“And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Galatians 5:24

The natural life is not sinful; we must be apostatized from sin, have nothing to do with sin in any shape or form. Sin belongs to hell and the devil; I, as a child of God, belong to heaven and God. It is not a question of giving up sin, but of giving up my right to myself, my natural independence and self-assertiveness, and this is where the battle has to be fought. It is the things that are right and noble and good from the natural stand point that keep us back from God's best. To discern that natural virtues antagonize surrender to God, is to bring our soul into the centre of its greatest battle. Very few of us debate with the sordid and evil and wrong, but we do debate with the good. It is the good that hates the best, and the higher up you get in the scale of the natural virtues, the more intense is the opposition to Jesus Christ. “They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh” – it is going to cost the natural in you everything, not something. Jesus said – “If any man will be My disciple, let him deny himself,” i.e., his right to himself, and a man has to realize Who Jesus Christ is before he will do it. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.

The natural life is not spiritual, and it can only be made spiritual by sacrifice. If we do not resolutely sacrifice the natural, the supernatural can never become natural in us. There is no royal road there; each of us has it entirely in his own bands. It is not a question of praying, but of performing.