3月25日 世上最微妙的使命

新郎的朋友。（約三29）

人的良善與純潔，不該拿來吸引人歸向自己，只該用作引人歸主的磁石。若我聖潔的目的不是歸向神，就不是真正的聖潔；這只會掀起越軌的熱情，使人偏離正路。一個卓越的聖徒，若不表彰耶穌基督，而只誇耀基督為他所做的事，他就會成為別人的絆腳石。他給人的印象是——“那人品德多麼好！”這不是新郎的真朋友；因“我”不斷的在興旺，而他卻不然。

為要保持對新郎的友誼和忠誠，就要留心我們和他在道德上、生命上的關係。這些比一切都重要，甚至是順服。有時沒有什麼要順服的，只要保持與耶穌基督在生命上的關係，不讓任何事物從中破壞。當然亦有需要順服的事；如有危機來到，我們便要知道神的旨意如何。可是我們大部分的生活，並非有意識的順服，而是保持與神的關係——作新郎的朋友。基督徒所做的工作，可能會轉移別人專一向主的心，使之外鶩！我們非但不是新郎的朋友，反而往往代天行道，用神的武器，作違背他的工作。

祈禱◆噢，主啊，我知道自己近來很少將生命深處對耶穌的信心實踐出來，潛藏的動機似乎經常蠢蠢欲動。求你將基督裡面的單純引進我的生命中，使我只留心要獲得你的認可。

March 25 The Most Delicate Mission On Earth

“The friend of the Bridegroom.” John 3:29

Goodness and purity ought never to attract attention to themselves, they ought simply to be magnets to draw to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing towards Him, it is not holiness of the right order, but an influence that will awaken inordinate affection and lead souls away into side-eddies. A beautiful saint may be a hindrance if he does not present Jesus Christ but only what Christ has done for him. He will leave the impression – “What a fine character that man is!” That is not being a true friend of the Bridegroom; I am increasing all the time, He is not.

In order to maintain this friendship and loyalty to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful of our moral and vital relationship to Him than of any other thing, even of obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey, the only thing to do is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, to see that nothing interferes with that. Only occasionally do we have to obey. When a crisis arises we have to find out what God’s will is, but the greater part of the life is not conscious obedience but the maintenance of this relationship – the friend of the Bridegroom. Christian work may be a means of evading the soul’s concentration on Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, we may become amateur providences, and may work against Him whilst we use His weapons.