三月二十九日
他虽然为儿子，还是因所受的苦难学了顺从。（来5:8）
我们的救主因受苦而得以完全，因此我们这些有罪的人，距完全尚远的人，当经过苦难时也不要以为希奇。头上戴着荆冕，其他肢体会在欢乐窝中安享清福吗？基督必须经过流血的苦海赢得冠冕，我们的脚会一尘不染地安抵天堂吗？不，我们主的经验使我们知道受苦是必须的，真被神所生的孩子，就是当他能够逃避的时候，不当，也不可逃避苦难。但基督“因受苦难得以完全”的事实很可安慰我们，那就是说他能完全同情我们：“我们的大祭司并非不能体恤我们的软弱。”我们现在仍可感动基督这一种体恤的力量。早先一位为主舍命的人说：“这一切我都能担当，因耶稣曾受苦。现在他在我里面受苦，他同情我，因此能使我刚强起来。”信徒啊！在苦痛之中要想到这一句话。让这话的意思在你跟着耶稣的脚踪走的时候，作你的力量。你要从他的体恤得到支持，并要想到受苦是一件光荣的事——为基督所受的苦是荣耀的。使徒们因为被算是配为这名受苦受辱，心里就满了欢喜。主赐我们为基督并与基督受苦的恩，那是他所给我们的尊荣。基督徒的珍珠就是他所受的苦难。神膏君王的记号就是他们的困难、忧伤和苦痛。因此，让我们不要逃避这尊荣，让我们不要舍掉被高举的机会。悲伤高举我们，困难高抬我们。
“我们和他一同受苦，也必和他一同得荣耀。”
March 29
“Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which
He suffered.” –Hebrews 5:8
We are told that the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through
suffering, therefore we who are sinful, and who are far from being perfect,
must not wonder if we are called to pass through suffering too. Shall the head
be crowned with thorns, and shall the other members of the body be rocked upon
the dainty lap of ease? Must Christ pass through seas of His own blood to win
the crown, and are we to walk to heaven dryshod in silver slippers? No, our
Master’s experience teaches us that suffering is necessary, and the true-born
child of God must not, would not, escape it if he might. But there is one very
comforting thought in the fact of Christ’s “being made perfect through
suffering”–it is, that He can have complete sympathy with us. “He is
not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities.” In this sympathy of Christ we find a sustaining power. One
of the early martyrs said, “I can bear it all, for Jesus suffered, and He
suffers in me now; He sympathizes with me, and this makes me strong.”
Believer, lay hold of this thought in all times of agony. Let the thought of
Jesus strengthen you as you follow in His steps. Find a sweet support in His
sympathy; and remember that, to suffer is an honourable thing–to suffer for Christ
is glory. The apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to do this. Just
so far as the Lord shall give us grace to suffer for Christ, to suffer with
Christ, just so far does He honour us. The jewels of a Christian are his
afflictions. The regalia of the kings whom God hath anointed are their
troubles, their sorrows, and their griefs. Let us not, therefore, shun being
honoured. Let us not turn aside from being exalted. Griefs exalt us, and
troubles lift us up. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.”
