2月17日
标 题： 舍己
经 节： 于是耶稣对门徒说：“若有人要跟从我，就当舍己，背起他的十字架来跟从我。”（马太福音十六章24节）
罪使我们自我中心，将我们的心由以神为中心，转变成以自我为中心。救恩的本质是以自我为中心一百八十度地转到以神为中心。基督徒一定得终生舍己。我们跟随耶稣最大的试探是肯定自己的地位。雅各与约翰跟随耶稣的时候就是如此，他们要求耶稣国度中最显赫的两个位子（马可福音十：35～37）。雅各与约翰想要的，是一个不会妨碍他们个人欲望和宏愿的门徒身分。就像他们一样，我们也说：“主啊！我是想要讨你的欢喜，但是我想要生活一切保持原状。”自我中心的人想要保持生活平静、不受搅扰、安全没有危险。我们的试探是把时间与精力投资在这个世界的目标。然而，得到了属世的成功，把自己的成功归功于神，把神带进自己的世界，我们说：“现在，我已经得到事业（或运动、政治、家庭，甚至是基督教事工）的成功，我要归所有荣耀给神！”神却没兴趣从我们的活动中接受二手的荣耀。神借着我们的生活，以祂自己的作为彰显祂自己的荣耀。这个世界会引诱你接受它的目标，并且将时间及精力投资于短暂的事物。与其抵挡这些追求自我目标、求神祝福个人志向的试探，倒不如舍己、添加神向你启示的工作。
Deny
Yourself
Then
Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. (Matthew 16:24)
Sin causes us to be self-centered,
shifting our hearts from God to self. The essence of salvation is an about-face
from self-centeredness to God-centeredness. The Christian must spend a lifetime
denying self. Our great temptation will be to affirm ourselves while we follow
Jesus. James and John did this when they chose to follow Jesus but asked for
the two most prominent positions in Jesus’ kingdom (Mark 10:35–37). James and
John wanted a discipleship that would not impede their personal desires and
aspirations. Like them, we say, “Lord, I want to be pleasing to you, but I want
to stay where I am.”
Self-centered people try to keep their
lives unruffled and undisturbed, safe and secure. Our temptation is to give our
time and effort to the goals of this world. Then, when we are successful in the
world’s eyes, we seek to bring God into our world by honoring Him with our
success. We may say, “Now that I have succeeded in business [or sports, or
politics, or with my family, or even Christian ministry], I want to give God
the glory for it!” God is not interested in receiving secondhand glory from our
activity. God receives glory from His activity through our lives.
The world will entice you to adopt its
goals and to invest in temporal things. Resist the temptation to pursue your
own goals, asking God to bless them. Rather, deny yourself and join the
activity of God as He reveals it to you.
