12月9日
天然生命的叛逆
凡屬基督耶穌的人，是已經把肉體，連肉體的邪情私欲，同釘在十字架上了。（加五24）
天然生命不是罪惡的，我們必須脫離罪，不再與罪有任何瓜葛。罪屬地獄和魔鬼；我，神的兒女，屬天堂和神。問題不是要放棄罪，而是放棄自己的主權，我天然的獨斷與自恃，是爭戰之所在地。天然觀點看來善美正確的東西，往往使我們得不著神最好的。天然善行往往是降服於神的攔阻。洞悉這一點，就到了心靈大戰的核心。少有人為錯失、卑污、邪惡爭辯，但卻會為善德爭辯。善事是至善的對頭，天然善行愈高，與耶穌基督的敵對就愈勁。“在基督裡的人是把肉體釘在十字架上了。”你要付出天然生命的一切，不是一部分。耶穌說：“人若要作我的門徒，就當舍己。”就是放下自己的主權；人先要認識耶穌基督是誰，才能這樣放下。當心，不要拒絕參加你自主權的喪禮。
天然生命不是屬靈的，只有獻上，才成為屬靈。若不徹底把天然生命當祭物獻上，超然的生命就無法在我們裡面成為天然的。這條不是康莊大道，各人必須下定決心。這也不是祈禱的問題，而是行動的問題。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，我何等肯定自己需要對你有一個更崇高的觀念。在這個祈求中，我願放下所有次要的東西，為了叫自己配去榮耀你。
December
9 The Offence Of The Natural
“And
they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”
Galatians 5:24
The natural
life is not sinful; we must be apostatized from sin, have nothing to do with
sin in any shape or form. Sin belongs to hell and the devil; I, as a child of
God, belong to heaven and God. It is not a question of giving up sin, but of
giving up my right to myself, my natural independence and self-assertiveness,
and this is where the battle has to be fought. It is the things that are right
and noble and good from the natural stand point that keep us back from God’s
best. To discern that natural virtues antagonize surrender to God, is to bring
our soul into the centre of its greatest battle. Very few of us debate with the
sordid and evil and wrong, but we do debate with the good. It is the good that
hates the best, and the higher up you get in the scale of the natural virtues,
the more intense is the opposition to Jesus Christ. “They that are Christ’s
have crucified the flesh” – it is going to cost the natural in you everything,
not something. Jesus said – “If any man will be My disciple, let him deny
himself,” i.e., his right to himself, and a man has to realize Who Jesus Christ
is before he will do it. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own
independence.
The natural
life is not spiritual, and it can only be made spiritual by sacrifice. If we do
not resolutely sacrifice the natural, the supernatural can never become natural
in us. There is no royal road there; each of us has it entirely in his own
bands. It is not a question of praying, but of performing.
