7月30日 覺醒的操練

耶穌卻不將自己交托他們……因他知道人心裡所存的。（約二24-25）

覺醒就是在生命中再沒有錯誤的判斷。受錯覺的矇騙，會使我們對人的批評變得苛刻，好冷嘲熱諷。但從神而來的覺醒，卻使我們認清人的本相，而又不憤世嫉俗，也沒有尖酸苦毒的說話。人生許多的痛苦，都是由於我們受錯覺的蒙蔽。對別人的觀感，我們只憑自己的想法，而非忠於事實。對我們來說，每一事物若非好便是壞。不願從錯覺中醒悟，是導致人生種種痛苦的因由。情形就是這樣：我們若愛一個人，卻不愛神，便會要求他完全正直無暇。一旦得不到，就變得殘酷，要報復；我們要求的，是一個人無法做到的。只有主耶穌才能滿足人心中最深的渴求。主耶穌對每種人際關係的看法，是相當嚴厲的；因為他知道任何一種不忠於主為基礎的關係，到頭來必定悲劇收場。主雖然不把自己交托給人，但他從不多疑，也不尖刻苦毒。他對神的信賴，以及對他恩典全能的信賴，使他對任何人都不絕望。我們的信賴若在人身上，結果必是對人失望。

祈禱◆主啊，對於你道路的細節，我雖然一無所知，但我期盼你奇妙的作為儘快顯明。我是何其全然安息，得見你的道路時，又是何其釋然。

July 30 The Discipline Of Disillusionment

“Jesus did not commit Himself unto them for He knew what was in man.” John 2:24-25

Disillusionment means that there are no more false judgments in life. To be undeceived by disillusionment may leave us cynical and unkindly severe in our judgment of others, but the disillusionment which comes from God brings us to the place where we see men and women as they really are, and yet there is no cynicism, we have no stinging, bitter things to say. Many of the cruel things in life spring from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts; we are true only to our ideas of one another. Everything is either delightful and fine, or mean and dastardly, according to our idea.

The refusal to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering in human life. It works in this way – if we love a human being and do not love God, we demand of him every perfection and every rectitude, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; we are demanding of a human being that which he or she cannot give. There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Why Our Lord is apparently so severe regarding every human relationship is because He knows that every relationship not based on loyalty to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord's confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any man, was so perfect that He despaired of no one. If our trust is placed in human beings, we shall end in despairing of everyone.