1月17日 今生的事奉
神既然樂意將他的兒子啟示在我心裏……（加一15-16）
神的呼召幷不是要我們去做某一種工作；我這樣的解釋也許是由于與神親密的相交，使我自然領會該爲他做什麽。呼召是神本性的表達，而事奉則是適合我個性工作的結果。使徒保羅說：“神樂意將他兒子啟示在我心裏，叫我把他傳在外邦人中。”（傳就是神聖的表達）這說明了保羅在地上的職務是要傳揚神的兒子。
事奉是內裏無限熱誠的湧流；可是，深入一點說，其實是沒有事奉的呼召的；這乃是我對神的體認和回應，以微不足道的行動表現出來。事奉是屬我天然生命的一部分。神與我們建立關係，叫人認出他的呼聲，然後就甘心情願爲愛他而有所行動。事奉神，是人聽見了神的呼召而專誠獻上愛的禮物。事奉是我的一種表達；而神的呼召是他的表達。因此，當我有了他的性情，又聽見他的呼召時，兩者就同時響應，互相配合。神的兒子啟示在我心裏，于是我以誠以愛在日常生活中事奉他。
祈禱◆主啊，你的話來的那麽靜悄悄，卻是無處不在——“若有人服侍我，就當跟從我”，和“若有人服侍我，我父必尊重他”。在這種意義上，請接納我成爲你的僕人。
January 17 The Vocation Of
The Natural Life
“But when it pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me . . .” Galatians
1:15-16
The call of God is not a
call to any particular service; my interpretation of it may be because contact
with the nature of God has made me realize what I would like to do for Him. The
call of God is essentially expressive of His nature; service is the outcome of
what is fitted to my nature. The vocation of the natural life is stated by the
apostle Paul – “When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me that I might preach
Him” (i.e., sacramentally express) “among the Gentiles.”
Service is the overflow of
superabounding devotion; but, profoundly speaking, there is no call to that, it
is my own little actual bit and is the echo of my identification with the
nature of God. Service is the natural part of my life. God gets me into a
relationship with Himself whereby I understand His call, then I do things out
of sheer love for Him on my own account. To serve God is the deliberate
love-gift of a nature that has heard the call of God. Service is expressive of
that which is fitted to my nature: God’s call is expressive of His nature;
consequently when I receive His nature and hear His call, the voice of the
Divine nature sounds in both and the two work together. The Son of God reveals
Himself in me, and I serve Him in the ordinary ways of life out of devotion to
Him.
