12月8日
标 题：不藐视小事
经 节：谁藐视这日的事为小呢？（撒迦利亚书四章10节）
世人喜欢看神迹奇事。神早就证明祂可以行神奇非凡之事，但是祂通常选择使用那些看来很普通、似乎毫不重要的事。借着这个方式，祂表达祂的爱及祂的大能。
历世历代以来，神对重要关键时刻的解答，是送来一个婴儿。以撒、摩西、撒母耳、施洗约翰和耶稣，都是一个有需要的时代之解答。当神把以色列人由米甸人的压迫中解救出来时，祂故意只使用三百人击败人数众多的敌军。事实上，祂有更多的士兵可以使用，但祂要以祂自己的大能完成所定的目标。当耶稣甄选第一批门徒的时候，祂大可招募一大堆群众跟随祂，但是祂只选了十二名。重要的不是门徒数目的多寡，而是他们与祂同行的品质，才能决定他们如何影响他们的世界。当耶稣行神迹喂饱一大群人，在神的手中，一个孩子的午餐——五个饼和两条鱼——就够了。
耶稣把神的国度比喻成芥菜种子（马太福音十三：31—32），芥菜种子是当时犹太人所知最小的种子，但是它会长成一棵极大的树。祂也把神的国度比喻成酵母，微小不引人注意，却能使一整个面团发酵（马太福音十三：33）。当孩子们来到耶稣面前，祂的门徒以为小孩子是烦人的小东西，要把他们赶走（马太福音十九：13—15）。但是耶稣说，我们若要进天国，就必须要回转到孩童的样式。
基督徒通常接受[愈大愈好]的信念。我们以事工人数的多寡，来衡量成功。我们寻求神迹奇事，来展示神的大能。我们一定要学习以神的眼光来看成功。神看重人的心；祂喜爱顺服的人。
Small Things Are Not Despised
For who has despised the day of small things? (Zechariah 4:10)
The
world loves the spectacular. God has proven that He is certainly capable of the
extraordinary, but He often chooses to work through the ordinary and seemingly
insignificant. In this way He demonstrates His love and His power.
Throughout
history, God’s answer to a critical time was to send a baby. Isaac, Moses,
Samuel, John the Baptist, and Jesus were all born as answers to a time of need.
When God delivered the Israelites from the Midianites’ oppression, He
intentionally used an army of merely three hundred men to defeat a vastly
larger army. He had more soldiers available, but He preferred to demonstrate
His power in the way He accomplished His purposes. When Jesus selected His
first disciples He could have enlisted a multitude to follow Him, but He chose
twelve. It was not the number of disciples but the quality of their walk with Him
that would determine how they affected their world. When Jesus fed a multitude,
five loaves of bread and two fish from a boy’s lunch were sufficient in the
hands of the Lord.
Jesus
compared the kingdom of God to a mustard seed (Matt. 13:31–32). The mustard
seed was the smallest seed known to the Jews, yet it grew into an enormous
tree. He also likened God’s kingdom to leaven that is hardly noticeable but
raises the entire batch of dough (Matt. 13:33). When children came to Jesus,
His disciples assumed they were an annoyance and chased them away (Matt.
19:13–15). But Jesus said that in order to enter His kingdom, people must
approach God as a child.
Christians
often accept the adage “the bigger the better.” We measure success by the
number of people involved in our ministry. We seek spectacular displays of
God’s power. We must learn to view success as God does. God is interested in
the heart; He is pleased with obedience.
