2月17日

標　　題： 舍己

經　　節： 於是耶穌對門徒說：「若有人要跟從我，就當舍己，背起他的十字架來跟從我。」（馬太福音十六章24節）

罪使我們自我中心，將我們的心由以神為中心，轉變成以自我為中心。救恩的本質是以自我為中心一百八十度地轉到以神為中心。基督徒一定得終生舍己。我們跟隨耶穌最大的試探是肯定自己的地位。雅各與約翰跟隨耶穌的時候就是如此，他們要求耶穌國度中最顯赫的兩個位子（馬可福音十：35∼37）。雅各與約翰想要的，是一個不會妨礙他們個人欲望和宏願的門徒身分。就像他們一樣，我們也說：「主啊！我是想要討你的歡喜，但是我想要生活一切保持原狀。」自我中心的人想要保持生活平靜、不受攪擾、安全沒有危險。我們的試探是把時間與精力投資在這個世界的目標。然而，得到了屬世的成功，把自己的成功歸功於神，把神帶進自己的世界，我們說：「現在，我已經得到事業（或運動、政治、家庭，甚至是基督教事工）的成功，我要歸所有榮耀給神！」神卻沒興趣從我們的活動中接受二手的榮耀。神借著我們的生活，以祂自己的作為彰顯祂自己的榮耀。這個世界會引誘你接受它的目標，並且將時間及精力投資於短暫的事物。與其抵擋這些追求自我目標、求神祝福個人志向的試探，倒不如舍己、添加神向你啟示的工作。

Deny Yourself

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. (Matthew 16:24)

Sin causes us to be self-centered, shifting our hearts from God to self. The essence of salvation is an about-face from self-centeredness to God-centeredness. The Christian must spend a lifetime denying self. Our great temptation will be to affirm ourselves while we follow Jesus. James and John did this when they chose to follow Jesus but asked for the two most prominent positions in Jesus’ kingdom (Mark 10:35–37). James and John wanted a discipleship that would not impede their personal desires and aspirations. Like them, we say, “Lord, I want to be pleasing to you, but I want to stay where I am.”

Self-centered people try to keep their lives unruffled and undisturbed, safe and secure. Our temptation is to give our time and effort to the goals of this world. Then, when we are successful in the world’s eyes, we seek to bring God into our world by honoring Him with our success. We may say, “Now that I have succeeded in business [or sports, or politics, or with my family, or even Christian ministry], I want to give God the glory for it!” God is not interested in receiving secondhand glory from our activity. God receives glory from His activity through our lives.

The world will entice you to adopt its goals and to invest in temporal things. Resist the temptation to pursue your own goals, asking God to bless them. Rather, deny yourself and join the activity of God as He reveals it to you.