1月16日

標 題：神永恆的透視

經 節：我必叫你成為大國。我必賜福給你，叫你的名為大；你也要叫別人得福。（創世記十二章2節）

艱巨的任務需要非凡品格的人才能達成。神按照你的品格量器大小，賦予你能夠承當的責任。在聖經時代，人名往往表明他的個性，知道一個人的名字就知道他是甚麼樣的人。這就是神在改變一個人的個性時，有時也改變他名字的原因。譬如神要藉著亞伯蘭祝福地上萬國，但亞伯蘭的個性太軟弱，不足以擔當這個重任。神說祂要叫亞伯蘭的名為大，讓他成為將來世代的祝福。因此，在接下來的廿五年中，神培養亞伯拉罕的品格，好叫他的個性與神所賜的名字相配。

神以祂永恆的角度透視你的一生。無論得花多少時間，祂會耐心地培養你的品格，好與祂給你的任務相配。如果你最近不曾接受任何由神而來的託付，這可能表示你的個性需要變成熟。你是否等不及神熬煉自己的個性，就不耐煩地想奮力一搏？個性軟弱者承擔大事，只有失敗的份。不要急於動手開始，個性的塑造是相當費時且痛苦的。經過廿五年，神才賜下亞伯拉罕第一個兒子，付諸行動創建以色列民族。但神的話是信實的，幾千年以來，許多人藉著亞伯拉罕的生活與他肉身的後裔耶穌而得福。

神如何塑造你的個性？你是否感受神給你一個任務，是超過現在的你所能承擔的？你是否願意讓神在你的身上作工，好預備你面對下一個任務？

God’s Eternal Perspective

I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. (Genesis 12:2)

Big assignments require big characters. God will give you a responsibility in proportion to the size of your character. In Bible times, a person’s name represented his character; to know someone’s name was to know what the person was like. That’s why God changed the name of some when He transformed their character. For example, the Lord wanted to bless all the nations of the earth through Abram, yet Abram’s character was too weak for such a great task. God said He would make Abram’s name great so that He could make him a blessing to future generations. Then over the next twenty-five years, God developed Abraham’s character to match the name He had given him. God sees your life from His eternal perspective. He will take whatever time is necessary to grow your character to match His assignment for you. If you have not received a divine commission lately, it may be that your character needs maturing. Are you impatient to begin your work before God has refined your character? A small character will fail in a large responsibility every time. Don’t be too hasty to get to the work. Character-building can be long and painful. It took twenty-five years before God entrusted Abraham with his first son and set in motion the establishment of the nation of Israel. Yet God was true to His word, and thousands of years later people continue to be blessed by the account of Abraham’s life and by his descendant, Jesus.

How is God building your character? Do you sense_He has a task for you that will require a far greater_man or woman than you presently are? Will you yield to God as He works in your life to prepare you for your_next assignment?