1月16日
标 题：神永恒的透视
经 节：我必叫你成为大国。我必赐福给你，叫你的名为大；你也要叫别人得福。（创世记十二章2节）
艰巨的任务需要非凡品格的人才能达成。神按照你的品格量器大小，赋予你能够承当的责任。在圣经时代，人名往往表明他的个性，知道一个人的名字就知道他是什么样的人。这就是神在改变一个人的个性时，有时也改变他名字的原因。譬如神要借着亚伯兰祝福地上万国，但亚伯兰的个性太软弱，不足以担当这个重任。神说祂要叫亚伯兰的名为大，让他成为将来世代的祝福。因此，在接下来的廿五年中，神培养亚伯拉罕的品格，好叫他的个性与神所赐的名字相配。
神以祂永恒的角度透视你的一生。无论得花多少时间，祂会耐心地培养你的品格，好与祂给你的任务相配。如果你最近不曾接受任何由神而来的托付，这可能表示你的个性需要变成熟。你是否等不及神熬炼自己的个性，就不耐烦地想奋力一搏？个性软弱者承担大事，只有失败的份。不要急于动手开始，个性的塑造是相当费时且痛苦的。经过廿五年，神才赐下亚伯拉罕第一个儿子，付诸行动创建以色列民族。但神的话是信实的，几千年以来，许多人借着亚伯拉罕的生活与他肉身的后裔耶稣而得福。
神如何塑造你的个性？你是否感受神给你一个任务，是超过现在的你所能承担的？你是否愿意让神在你的身上作工，好预备你面对下一个任务？
God’s Eternal Perspective
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. (Genesis 12:2)
Big assignments require big characters. God will give you a responsibility in proportion to the size of your character. In Bible times, a person’s name represented his character; to know someone’s name was to know what the person was like. That’s why God changed the name of some when He transformed their character. For example, the Lord wanted to bless all the nations of the earth through Abram, yet Abram’s character was too weak for such a great task. God said He would make Abram’s name great so that He could make him a blessing to future generations. Then over the next twenty-five years, God developed Abraham’s character to match the name He had given him. God sees your life from His eternal perspective. He will take whatever time is necessary to grow your character to match His assignment for you. If you have not received a divine commission lately, it may be that your character needs maturing. Are you impatient to begin your work before God has refined your character? A small character will fail in a large responsibility every time. Don’t be too hasty to get to the work. Character-building can be long and painful. It took twenty-five years before God entrusted Abraham with his first son and set in motion the establishment of the nation of Israel. Yet God was true to His word, and thousands of years later people continue to be blessed by the account of Abraham’s life and by his descendant, Jesus.
How is God building your character? Do you sense_He has a task for you that will require a far greater_man or woman than you presently are? Will you yield to God as He works in your life to prepare you for your_next assignment?
