十月二日
是爲那给你们存在天上的盼望。（西1：5）
我们将来在基督里的盼望是我们现在得快乐的枢纽。它使我们的心多多幷常常想到天堂，因爲我们所渴想的一切应许都在那里。我们在这里劳苦疲倦，但那里乃是安息之境，人的额上不再滴汗，也不再疲乏了。“安息”对于软弱疲劳的人真是像天堂一样。我们常驰骋沙场，内有诱惑，外有强敌，我们简直没有太平的时候；但在天堂上我们就安享胜利，得胜的锦旗飘扬在我们之上，刀已入鞘，我们的元帅说：“好，你这又良善又忠心的仆人。”我们常有丧亲之悲，但我们要到永生之境，那里不知坟墓爲何物；我们在这里常爲罪悲伤，但在那里，我们必完全成爲圣洁，因爲污秽卑鄙的都不得进入那国度；苦菜不再滋生在田间的犁沟中。你不再流浪，不再居住在旷野，乃要承受迦南地，这不是一件快乐的事吗？可是我们也不要因爲梦想将来，而忘了现在；我们想到将来的时候，就要在现在更加圣洁；我们在盼望天堂的时候借着神灵的大能更能生出美好的德行；这是我们欢然努力地根基，是我们乐于圣洁的角石。有这盼望的人必然奋发努力工作，因爲主的喜乐成了他的力量。他热烈地与诱惑争战，因爲来世的盼望必然打退仇敌的凶猛攻击。他勤苦工作，不求现在得报酬，因爲他看重来世的赏赐。
“因爲他等候那座有根基的城……因爲他已经给他们预备了一座城。”
October
2
“The
hope which is laid up for you in heaven.”–Colossians 1:5
Our hope in Christ for the future is the mainspring and the mainstay of
our joy here. It will animate our hearts to think often of heaven, for all that
we can desire is promised there. Here we are weary and toilworn, but yonder is
the land of rest where the sweat of labour shall no more bedew the worker’s
brow, and fatigue shall be forever banished. To those who are weary and spent,
the word “rest” is full of heaven. We are always in the field of
battle; we are so tempted within, and so molested by foes without, that we have
little or no peace; but in heaven we shall enjoy the victory, when the banner
shall be waved aloft in triumph, and the sword shall be sheathed, and we shall
hear our Captain say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We have
suffered bereavement after bereavement, but we are going to the land of the
immortal where graves are unknown things. Here sin is a constant grief to us,
but there we shall be perfectly holy, for there shall by no means enter into
that kingdom anything which defileth. Hemlock springs not up in the furrows of
celestial fields. Oh! is it not joy, that you are not to be in banishment
forever, that you are not to dwell eternally in this wilderness, but shall soon
inherit Canaan? Nevertheless let it never be said of us, that we are dreaming
about the future and forgetting the present, let the future sanctify the
present to highest uses. Through the Spirit of God the hope of heaven is the
most potent force for the product of virtue; it is a fountain of joyous effort,
it is the corner stone of cheerful holiness. The man who has this hope in him
goes about his work with vigour, for the joy of the Lord is his strength. He
fights against temptation with ardour, for the hope of the next world repels
the fiery darts of the adversary. He can labour without present reward, for he
looks for a reward in the world to come.
