十一月八日
你們既然接受了主基督耶穌。（西2：6）
信主的生命用接受來表示，乃是說這一種動作與功勞完全相反。這就好像接受一種禮物一樣。地怎樣吸收雨水，海怎樣容納江河，夜怎樣得到星光，我們也是這樣，雖然我們幷沒有付出什麽，只是白白地獲取神的恩典。聖徒的天性幷非泉源或溪流，他們乃是活水所灌注的水池，乃是神向他們的空器皿傾倒救恩。接受的意思有一種實現的意義，使某一種事成爲現實。一個人不能接受一個影兒，我們所接受的乃是實體；信主的生命也是這樣，基督實在成爲我們的。我們若沒有信，耶穌對于我們只不過是一個人名罷了——是古時的一個人。他的生活在我們現在看來不過是一篇普通的歷史罷了！
因著信，我們的心感到耶穌是一位真活的人。接受也有抓住或占有的意思。我們接受的東西就成爲我自己的：所給我的東西就歸我所有。當我接受耶穌的時候，他就成爲我的救主，無論是生是死總不能從我把他奪去。接受基督乃要——把他當作是神白賜的恩典，知道他實在在我的心裏，幷使他歸我所有。救恩好像瞎子得見、聾子得聽、死人得生一樣，但我們不但得了這一切，我們還接受了基督耶穌自己。不錯，他當我們死的時候賜我們生命。他赦免我們的罪，他賜義給我們，這一切都很寶貴，但我們幷不因它們知足；我們接受的是基督自己。神的兒子曾傾倒在我們裏面，我們曾接受了他，幷使他成爲我們的。耶穌實在是滿溢人心的，因爲天堂也不能容下他。
November
8
“As
ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord.”–Colossians 2:6
The life of faith is represented as
receiving–an act which implies the very opposite of anything like merit. It is
simply the acceptance of a gift. As the earth drinks in the rain, as the sea
receives the streams, as night accepts light from the stars, so we, giving
nothing, partake freely of the grace of God. The saints are not, by nature,
wells, or streams, they are but cisterns into which the living water flows;
they are empty vessels into which God pours his salvation. The idea of
receiving implies a sense of realization, making the matter a reality. One
cannot very well receive a shadow; we receive that which is substantial: so is
it in the life of faith, Christ becomes real to us. While we are without faith,
Jesus is a mere name to us–a person who lived a long while ago, so long ago
that his life is only a history to us now! By an act of faith Jesus becomes a
real person in the consciousness of our heart. But receiving also means
grasping or getting possession of. The thing which I receive becomes my own: I
appropriate to myself that which is given. When I receive Jesus, he becomes my
Saviour, so mine that neither life nor death shall be able to rob me of him.
All this is to receive Christ–to take him as God’s free gift; to realize him
in my heart, and to appropriate him as mine.
Salvation may be described as the blind receiving sight, the deaf
receiving hearing, the dead receiving life; but we have not only received these
blessings, we have received Christ Jesus himself. It is true that he gave us
life from the dead. He gave us pardon of sin; he gave us imputed righteousness.
These are all precious things, but we are not content with them; we have
received Christ himself. The Son of God has been poured into us, and we have
received him, and appropriated him. What a heartful Jesus must be, for heaven
itself cannot contain him!
