7月8日 立志忠心

 “……今日就可以選擇所要事奉的。”（約書亞記二十四15）

意志是全人的活動。我不能放棄我的意志，我必須要訓練我的意志。我必須要立志順服，立志接受上帝的靈。當上帝給了我們真理的異像時，他要做什麼不是一個問題，問題是我們要做什麼。主已經把一些大的任務擺在我們面前，最好要做的事是回想從前被上帝感動的時候你做了什麼？就是在你得救的時候，或者第一次看到耶穌，或者認識到一些真理。那時候對上帝順服忠心是容易的。當上帝的靈把一些新的任務帶到你面前時，現在就回想從前的那些時候吧。

“今日就可以選擇所要事奉的。”這是經過深思熟慮的計算，不是你可以容易進入的事情；其他一切都被暫時擱置，直到你做出決定。這任務是在你與上帝之間的，不要和屬血氣的商量這事。對於每一個新的任務，其他人會越來越遠離它，這正是壓力來的地方。上帝允許他的聖徒的意見影響到你，但你被帶領到越來越遠，別人無法確實理解你所走的路。你不用去發現上帝把你帶到哪裡，上帝唯一要向你解釋的事就是他自己。

向他宣告：“我要忠心。”一旦你選擇了向耶穌基督忠心，你就不再是你自己的見證。不要諮詢別的基督徒，只要在他面前宣告——我要服侍你。立志忠心——並且也為別人的忠心而贊許他們。

July 8 The Will To Loyalty

“Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” Joshua 24:15

Will is the whole man active. I cannot give up my will, I must exercise it. I must will to obey, and I must will to receive God's Spirit. When God gives a vision of truth it is never a question of what He will do, but of what we will do. The Lord has been putting before us all some big propositions, and the best thing to do is to remember what you did when you were touched by God before – the time when you were saved, or first saw Jesus, or realized some truth. It was easy then to yield allegiance to God; recall those moments now as the Spirit of God brings before you some new proposition.

“Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” It is a deliberate calculation, not something into which you drift easily; and everything else is in abeyance until you decide. The proposition is between you and God; do not confer with flesh and blood about it. With every new proposition other people get more and more “out of it,” that is where the strain comes. God allows the opinion of His saints to matter to you, and yet you are brought more and more out of the certainty that others understand the step you are taking. You have no business to find out where God is leading, the only thing God will explain to you is Himself.

Profess to Him – ‘I will be loyal.’ Immediately you choose to be loyal to Jesus Christ, you are a witness against yourself. Don't consult other Christians, but profess before Him – I will serve Thee. Will to be loyal – and give other people credit for being loyal too.