5月8日 信心的忍耐
你既遵守我忍耐的道。（启三10）
忍耐不单是忍受。圣徒的生命在神手中，有如弓箭在射箭者的手上。神正瞄准一些我们看不见的东西，在用力拉开弓；圣徒却说：“我再也受不了。”神不加理会，反而继续拉紧，直至目标在望，才松手让箭射出。放心把自己放在神手中。你现在正要忍耐什么呢？只要用忍耐的信心，保持你与耶稣基督的关系。“他虽然杀我，我仍要等候他。”
信心不是悲观的情绪，乃是强而有力的信任，是建造在神圣洁的爱上。你如今看不见他，也不明白他在做什么，但你是认识他的。我们心灵的平稳，在乎我们是否建立在神至圣的爱这永恒的真理上；否则，信心必如船触礁而覆没。信心是你人生中最英勇的奋斗，是不顾一切的把自己交托神，一心投靠他。
神在耶稣基督里已赴汤蹈火、不顾一切地救了我们；如今他要我们不惜牺牲一切，全心信靠他。我们里面还有许多地方是信心尚未耕耘过的，就是神的生命尚未触摸到的。在耶稣基督的生命里，却没有这样的光景，我们也不该有。“认识你……这就是永生。”永生的真正意义，就是一种面对任何事情而不动摇的生命。我们若有这种看见，人生就成为一页罗曼史，能够每时每刻经历到奇妙的事。神一直在操练我们，好使我们进入这能力的中心里去。
祈祷◆主啊，我理应成为何等样的人！我那充满恩典的生命在你的掌管下是那么奇妙；然而，我仍发觉自己是那么气量狭小。主啊，我还可以说什么呢！
May 8 The Patience Of Faith
“Because thou hast kept the word of My patience.”
Revelation 3:10
Patience is more than endurance. A saint’s life is in the hands of God
like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the
saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the
saint says – “I cannot stand any more.” God does not heed, He goes on
stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly. Trust yourself in
God’s hands. For what have you need of patience just now? Maintain your
relationship to Jesus Christ by the patience of faith. “Though He slay me, yet
will I wait for Him.”
Faith is not a pathetic sentiment, but robust vigorous confidence built
on the fact that God is holy love. You cannot see Him just now, you cannot
understand what He is doing, but you know Him. Shipwreck occurs where there is
not that mental poise which comes from being established on the eternal truth
that God is holy love. Faith is the heroic effort of your life, you fling
yourself in reckless confidence on God.
God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us, now He wants us to
venture our all in abandoned confidence in Him. There are spots where that
faith has not worked in us as yet, places untouched by the life of God. There
were none of those spots in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in
ours. “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee.” The real meaning of
eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering.
If we take this view, life becomes one great romance, a glorious opportunity
for seeing marvelous things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into
this central place of power.
