7月19日 信徒的主

你們稱呼我夫子，稱呼我主，你們說的不錯，我本來是。（約十三13）

我們的主從不堅持他的主權；他從不說——“你必須這樣”。他給我們絕對的自由。我們可以吐唾沫在他面前，像世人一樣；也可以把他置諸死地，像昔日的人一樣；他不會發一言。可是當他的生命藉救恩創造在我裡面後，他在我身上便有絕對的主權。這屬道德上的管治——“你配得”。只是我裡面那不配的，拒絕向那配的俯伏。當我碰見一個比我聖潔的人，不肯去尊敬他，也不肯順服從他發出的命令，這正暴露了我的不配。神往往用一些比我們好的人——不是知識上比我們好，而是比我們聖潔的人——來管教我們，直至我們服在他的管治之下，直至我們整個的人生態度都順服他。

若我們的主堅持要我們順服，他就成了一個管工，不再有什麼權威了。他從不堅持要我們順服，可是我們若真看見他，就必立時順服。他很自然地成為我們的主，從早到晚我們都活在對他的欽慕之中。對順服的看法，可以顯示我在恩典中有多少長進。“順服”一詞，指到必須從泥坑中救拔出來。只有地位平等才有順服，這是父子的關係，而非主僕的關係。“我與父原為一”，“他雖然為兒子，還是因所受的苦難學了順從”。身子的順服是要做救贖者，他順服是因為他是兒子，而不是為了成為兒子而順服。

祈禱◆主啊，帶領我更加靠近你，直至我在你的工作中，對你愈來愈有用。

July 19 The Submission of the Believer

“You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.” —John 13:13

Our Lord never insists on having authority over us. He never says, “You will submit to me.” No, He leaves us perfectly free to choose— so free, in fact, that we can spit in His face or we can put Him to death, as others have done; and yet He will never say a word. But once His life has been created in me through His redemption, I instantly recognize His right to absolute authority over me. It is a complete and effective domination, in which I acknowledge that “You are worthy, O Lord…” (Revelation 4:11). It is simply the unworthiness within me that refuses to bow down or to submit to one who is worthy. When I meet someone who is more holy than myself, and I don’t recognize his worthiness, nor obey his instructions for me, it is a sign of my own unworthiness being revealed. God teaches us by using these people who are a little better than we are; not better intellectually, but more holy. And He continues to do so until we willingly submit. Then the whole attitude of our life is one of obedience to Him.

If our Lord insisted on our obedience, He would simply become a taskmaster and cease to have any real authority. He never insists on obedience, but when we truly see Him we will instantly obey Him. Then He is easily Lord of our life, and we live in adoration of Him from morning till night. The level of my growth in grace is revealed by the way I look at obedience. We should have a much higher view of the word obedience, rescuing it from the mire of the world. Obedience is only possible between people who are equals in their relationship to each other; like the relationship between father and son, not that between master and servant. Jesus showed this relationship by saying, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). The Son was obedient as our Redeemer, because He was the Son, not in order to become God’s Son.