十月二十四日
耶和華所栽種的，都滿了汁漿。（詩104：16）
沒有汁漿，樹就不能茂盛，甚至也不能存活。活力對于基督徒是很重要的。必須有生命——生活的根本乃是聖靈所賜給我們的，不然我們就不能成爲神的樹。徒有基督徒的名字是死的，我們必須充滿神的生命。這生命是奧秘的。我們不懂汁漿怎樣輸送，有什麽力量使它升上，又有什麽能力使它降下。
我們裏面的生命也是一個奧秘。重生乃是聖靈進入人裏面成爲人的生命所成就的一件事，這個屬神的生命以後也必須靠著基督的血肉來養育，但它怎樣來，又怎樣去，誰能給我們解說呢？汁漿真是一個秘密！根在土壤中用許多小孔尋找食物，但我們幷不能看到它們怎樣吸取各種氣體，或是怎樣把曠物變成綠葉；這種工作是在暗中作的。我們的根在基督耶穌裏，我們的生命乃是藏在他裏面；這是主的秘密。
基督徒生命的根和生命都是一個秘密。汁漿是永遠在香柏樹中活動的！基督徒裏面的屬神的生命也是滿有活力的——幷不一定常常結果子，乃是在裏面用功夫。信徒的德行，每一種都是永遠不間斷地活躍著嗎？但他的生命在裏面卻是不停地動著。他幷非常常爲神作工，但他的心卻總是靠他活著。有了汁漿樹木自會茂盛、結果，所以一個真正健全的基督徒，也必在言行方面表現出他的美德來。如果你和他說話，他是不能不談說耶穌的。若你看他的行爲，你必看出他是跟過耶穌的。他裏面有很多汁漿，他的言行必充滿了生命。
October
24
“The
trees of the Lord are full of sap.”–Psalm 104:16
Without sap the tree cannot flourish or
even exist. Vitality is essential to a Christian. There must be life–a vital
principle infused into us by God the Holy Ghost, or we cannot be trees of the
Lord. The mere name of being a Christian is but a dead thing, we must be filled
with the spirit of divine life. This life is mysterious. We do not understand
the circulation of the sap, by what force it rises, and by what power it
descends again. So the life within us is a sacred mystery. Regeneration is
wrought by the Holy Ghost entering into man and becoming man’s life; and this
divine life in a believer afterwards feeds upon the flesh and blood of Christ
and is thus sustained by divine food, but whence it cometh and whither it goeth
who shall explain to us? What a secret thing the sap is! The roots go searching
through the soil with their little spongioles, but we cannot see them suck out
the various gases, or transmute the mineral into the vegetable; this work is
done down in the dark. Our root is Christ Jesus, and our life is hid in him;
this is the secret of the Lord. The radix of the Christian life is as secret as
the life itself. How permanently active is the sap in the cedar! In the
Christian the divine life is always full of energy–not always in fruit- bearing,
but in inward operations. The believer’s graces are not every one of them in
constant motion, but his life never ceases to palpitate within. He is not
always working for God, but his heart is always living upon him. As the sap
manifests itself in producing the foliage and fruit of the tree, so with a
truly healthy Christian, his grace is externally manifested in his walk and
conversation. If you talk with him, he cannot help speaking about Jesus. If you
notice his actions you will see that he has been with Jesus. He has so much sap
within, that it must fill his conduct and conversation with life.
