8月10日 聖徒的分別為聖

所以那照神旨意受苦的人，要一心為善，將自己靈魂交與那信實的造化之主。（彼前四19）

故意選擇受苦是不妥當的；但若是為了神的旨意而甘心受苦，就完全不同了。正常的聖徒不會選擇受苦；像主耶穌一樣，他的選擇是為了神的旨意，不管這是否需要受苦。沒有聖徒能干預別的聖徒在受苦上的操練。

一個滿足主心意的聖徒，能使別的聖徒靠神堅強、成熟起來。能幫助我們的，並非那些一味同情我們的人。他們會成為阻礙，因為同情可能叫人軟弱。最明白聖徒的，就是最靠近主心懷的聖徒。我們若接受別人的同情，反應就是－－“神對我實在太苛刻了。”所以主耶穌說自憐出於魔鬼（太十六23）。他從不反駁，也從不維護自己。

不要以為主耶穌在世時需要人的同情；他從不接受人的同情，是因為深知地上沒有人真明白他的使命。他只接受天父及天使的同情（比較路十五10）。按世人的眼光來看，神把聖徒放在最無出色的角落去，實在是極大的浪費。我們會說：“神放我在這裡，因為我非常有用。”耶穌卻從不這樣衡量自己的生命。其實神是把聖徒放在能榮耀他的地方，我們是無權選擇到底那是什麼地方。

祈禱◆主啊，我完全仰賴你；在你出現之前，我若有“迷失”的感覺，相信對我是好的.

August 10 The Sacrament Of The Saint

“Let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing.” 1 Peter 4:19

To choose to suffer means that there is something wrong; to choose God's Will even if it means suffering is a very different thing. No healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he chooses God's will, as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. No saint dare interfere with the discipline of suffering in another saint.

The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. The people who do us good are never those who sympathize with us, they always hinder, because sympathy enervates. No one understands a saint but the saint who is nearest to the Saviour. If we accept the sympathy of a saint, the reflex feeling is – Well, God is dealing hardly with me. That is why Jesus said self-pity was of the devil (see Matt. 16:23). Be merciful to God's reputation. It is easy to blacken God's character because God never answers back, He never vindicates Himself. Beware of the thought that Jesus needed sympathy in His earthly life; He refused sympathy from man because He knew far too wisely that no one on earth understood what He was after. He took sympathy from His Father only, and from the angels in heaven. (Cf. Luke 15:10.)

Notice God's unutterable waste of saints, according to the judgment of the world. God plants His saints in the most useless places. We say – God intends me to be here because I am so useful. Jesus never estimated His life along the line of the greatest use. God puts His saints where they will glorify Him, and we are no judges at all of where that is.