二月十六日
我无论在什么景况都可以知足，这是我已经学会了。（腓4:11）
这话使我们知道知足并不是人自然的习性。莠草反而长得快，长得好，真是“野火烧不尽，春风吹又生”。人生而有贪婪、不知足和怨尤，真像地里生的荆棘蒺藜一样；我们勿须教人抱怨，人们虽未受过这样的教育，但是却极会抱怨。相反地中也有很多宝贵的东西需要加以培养。若是我们要收麦，就必须耕种；若是我们要看花，就必须整理园地，善加照料。那末，知足便是天堂上得一种花，若我们要得这样的花，就必须好生培养；它并不能自然而然地在我们心中生长起来，必须有新的性情才能使它生长，就是那样，我们也必须好好看顾，好使神撒在我们心中的恩发长起来。保罗说“都可以知足，这是我已经学会了”，也就是说他从前有一个时期不会这样。必须付上代价，忍受苦痛才能得到其中的奥秘。毫无疑问，有时他以为他学会了，岂知还是不行。到了最后他才达到了这境地，因此才能说：“我无论在什么景况都可以知足，这是我已经学会了。”那时他已经是老态龙钟，鬓发苍苍，离死不远的老人了——一个被尼禄囚在罗马监牢里的囚犯。我们也当甘愿忍受保罗的灾害，与他同尝地牢的苦味，才能达到他所臻至的境界，你不要以为不学就可以会，或是学会了而不加管制。这种能力不能马上运用自如，必须逐渐学得。我们从经验中就可以知道了。弟兄啊！虽然难免，可是不要再怨尤吧，要继续在知足的大学里作一个勤学的学生。
February
16
“I
have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.” –Philippians
4:11
These words show us that contentment is not a natural propensity of man.
“Ill weeds grow apace.” Covetousness, discontent, and murmuring are
as natural to man as thorns are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and
brambles; they come up naturally enough, because they are indigenous to earth:
and so, we need not teach men to complain; they complain fast enough without
any education. But the precious things of the earth must be cultivated. If we
would have wheat, we must plough and sow; if we want flowers, there must be the
garden, and all the gardener’s care. Now, contentment is one of the flowers of
heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated; it will not grow in us
by nature; it is the new nature alone that can produce it, and even then we
must be specially careful and watchful that we maintain and cultivate the grace
which God has sown in us. Paul says, “I have learned . . . to be
content;” as much as to say, he did not know how at one time. It cost him
some pains to attain to the mystery of that great truth. No doubt he sometimes
thought he had learned, and then broke down. And when at last he had attained
unto it, and could say, “I have learned in whatsoever state I am,
therewith to be content,” he was an old, grey-headed man, upon the borders
of the grave–a poor prisoner shut up in Nero’s dungeon at Rome. We might well
be willing to endure Paul’s infirmities, and share the cold dungeon with him,
if we too might by any means attain unto his good degree. Do not indulge the notion
that you can be contented with learning, or learn without discipline. It is not
a power that may be exercised naturally, but a science to be acquired
gradually. We know this from experience. Brother, hush that murmur, natural
though it be, and continue a diligent pupil in the College of Content.
