二月三日

弟兄們，這樣看來，我們是欠債的人。（改譯）（羅8:12）

我們既是神所造的就都欠他的債，我們當以全身、全心、全力來順服他。我們因違背了他的命令，就都成了他的公義的債務人，我們所欠他的，是我們所無力償付的。但就基督徒來說他毫不欠神的公義的債，因為基督償還了屬他之人所欠的債，為此信徒更欠愛的債。我欠神的恩典和赦罪的憐憫的債，但我並不欠他公義的債了，因為他不再追究已經償還的債務了。基督說：“成了！”他的意思就是說，凡屬他的人所欠的無論什麼債都從帳簿上一筆勾銷了。基督已完全滿足神公義的要求，帳目已經結清了；所記的帳都已釘在十字架上了，收據也得到了，我們不再是神公義的債務人了。雖然從這一方面看，我們不再欠我們主的債；可是從另一方面想，我們更加欠我們神的債了。基督徒呀！且慢，你且默想一番。你欠神的權多少債呢？你欠他無私的愛多少債呢？因為他舍了自己的兒子，為你受死。想想看，你欠他赦罪的憐憫多少債呢？你雖百般頂撞他，而他仍無限制地永遠愛你。想想你欠他的大能多少債呢？他怎樣把死在罪中的你救了出來呢？他怎樣保守了你屬靈的生命呢？他怎樣保護你不至跌倒呢？他怎樣當千萬仇敵埋伏在你四圍時，仍然使你安步行走呢？再想想，你欠他的不改變多少債呢？你雖改變千萬次，他卻一次也不改變。你欠神每種神性和神德很多的債。要用你自己和你一切所有的償還給神。“將身體獻上，當作活祭，是聖潔的，是神所喜悅的，你們如此侍奉，乃是理所當然的。”

February 3

"Therefore, brethren, we are debtors." --Romans 8:12

As God's creatures, we are all debtors to Him: to obey Him with all our body, and soul, and strength. Having broken His commandments, as we all have, we are debtors to His justice, and we owe to Him a vast amount which we are not able to pay. But of the Christian it can be said that he does not owe God's justice anything, for Christ has paid the debt His people owed; for this reason the believer owes the more to love. I am a debtor to God's grace and forgiving mercy; but I am no debtor to His justice, for He will never accuse me of a debt already paid. Christ said, "It is finished!" and by that He meant, that whatever His people owed was wiped away for ever from the book of remembrance. Christ, to the uttermost, has satisfied divine justice; the account is settled; the handwriting is nailed to the cross; the receipt is given, and we are debtors to God's justice no longer. But then, because we are not debtors to our Lord in that sense, we become ten times more debtors to God than we should have been otherwise. Christian, pause and ponder for a moment. What a debtor thou art to divine sovereignty! How much thou owest to His disinterested love, for He gave His own Son that He might die for thee. Consider how much you owe to His forgiving grace, that after ten thousand affronts He loves you as infinitely as ever. Consider what you owe to His power; how He has raised you from your death in sin; how He has preserved your spiritual life; how He has kept you from falling; and how, though a thousand enemies have beset your path, you have been able to hold on your way. Consider what you owe to His immutability. Though you have changed a thousand times, He has not changed once. Thou art as deep in debt as thou canst be to every attribute of God. To God thou owest thyself, and all thou hast--yield thyself as a living sacrifice, it is but thy reasonable service.