9月30日
标 题：与神同感
经 节：亚拿尼亚听见这话，就仆倒，断了气；听见的人都甚惧怕。（使徒行传五章5节）
当神审判某人时，我们倾向于同情那位被管教的人。然而，当神实施审判时，我们的同情心应该与神站在同一边。只有神知道所有事情的利害关系，也只有祂知道整个情况，惹动祂的怒气，惩罚那个人。
亚拿尼亚和撒非喇的经历，是新约记载中最令人费解的故事之一。神的救恩是给全人类，祂对这对夫妻的处罚似乎太严酷了。然而，这整个欺诈事件是有其背景原因的。当时的教会正处于成型时期。亚拿尼亚和撒非喇曾经目睹许多神迹，并且亲眼看见几千人添加教会。但他们公然地对神及对教会撒谎，他们不尊重神的灵。如此非礼、大不敬的态度，对靠着圣灵指引与同在的教会，带来极大的破坏力。神严肃地提醒后世的人，祂并不宽容罪。
在太多的情况之下，基督徒的罪严重地影响其他人。有时候，神选择严厉地审判某人的罪，成为其他人的警惕。不要试着保护某人不受神的审判，落在永生神的手中是非常可怕的（希伯来书十：31）。然而，祂在一个人身上的审判，最终可能救那个人和其他许许多多人。当神审判其他人，我们要留心注意，检查自己的生命，引以为鉴。神知道事情的利害关系，祂非常爱祂的儿女，所以愿意严格地警告罪的危险性。
Sympathy with God
Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and
breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.
(Acts 5:5)
When God brings judgment upon someone, our natural
inclination is often sympathy toward the one being disciplined. Yet when God
acts in judgment, our sympathies ought always to lie with Him. Only God knows
all that is at stake, and only He knows the full circumstances that provoked
His wrath upon the one He is judging.
Ananias and Sapphira’s experience is one of the
most perplexing stories in the New Testament. In a time when God’s grace had
provided salvation for all mankind, His response to this couple seems unusually
harsh. Yet there was much at stake in their deception. The church was in its
formative stages. Ananias and Sapphira had witnessed the miraculous power of
God and had seen thousands of people being added to the church. Nevertheless,
they showed little regard for the Spirit of God when they blatantly lied to God
and the church. Such irreverence would have been devastating to a church whose
very life depended upon the presence and guidance of God’s Spirit. God left a
sobering reminder that He would not tolerate sin.
Many times the sin of one Christian has a
devastating effect on others. At times, God chooses to judge someone’s sin
severely, as a deterrent for others. Don’t try to protect someone from the
judgment of God. It is a terrifying thing to fall under His judgment (Heb.
10:31). Yet His judgment on one may ultimately save that person and many
others. When God is judging others, take heed and examine your own life. God
knows what is at stake; He loves His children enough to provide a stark warning
of sin’s dangers.
