八月十六日
要将耶和华的名所当得的荣耀归给他。（诗29：2）
神的荣耀是因着他的性情和行动而得的。他的性情是荣耀的，因爲他的一切都是圣洁的，在神里面都是纯全、可爱的。他必须是荣耀的，从他的性情所发出的一切行动也是荣耀的。他要向他所造的显出他的慈爱、恩典和公义，他也要使他们将荣耀归给他自己。我们没有什麽可以荣耀自己的，因爲那造我们的是叫我们彼此分什麽尊卑高下吗？我们所接受的一切不都是出于神一切的恩典吗？那末我们应当怎样谦卑地在神面前而行啊！世上既然只有一位当得荣耀的，那末当我们荣耀自己的时候，就是强夺与至高者同等的地位了。
蜉蝣能与使它生存的太阳争荣吗？瓦器能高抬自己在抟弄它的之上吗？尘埃能与旋风抗衡吗？洋海中的涓滴能与巨浪争竞吗？你们一切义人哪！当将荣耀和力量完全归于耶和华；要把他当得的尊荣给他。或许基督徒的生活要经过很多争斗才能学会下面一句话：“耶和华啊！荣耀不要归与我们，不要归与我们；要因你的慈爱和诚实归在你的名下。”这是神时时教导我们的功课，有时要用苦痛的管教方法来教导我们。基督徒若是夸口说他“凡事都能作”，而不在这句话之前说“我靠着那加给我力量的”，不久他就必说“我什麽也不能作”，也必抱愧蒙羞。当我们爲神工作时，他必悦纳我们所作的，他让我们把冠冕放在他的脚前说：“这原不是我，乃是神的恩与我同在。”
August
16
“Give
unto the Lord the glory due unto His name.” — Psalm 29:2
God’s glory is the result of His nature and acts. He is glorious in His
character, for there is such a store of everything that is holy, and good, and
lovely in God, that He must be glorious. The actions which flow from His
character are also glorious; but while He intends that they should manifest to
His creatures His goodness, and mercy, and justice, He is equally concerned
that the glory associated with them should be given only to Himself. Nor is
there aught in ourselves in which we may glory; for who maketh us to differ
from another? And what have we that we did not receive from the God of all
grace? Then how careful ought we to be to walk humbly before the Lord! The
moment we glorify ourselves, since there is room for one glory only in the
universe, we set ourselves up as rivals to the Most High. Shall the insect of
an hour glorify itself against the sun which warmed it into life? Shall the
potsherd exalt itself above the man who fashioned it upon the wheel? Shall the
dust of the desert strive with the whirlwind? Or the drops of the ocean
struggle with the tempest? Give unto the Lord, all ye righteous, give unto the
Lord glory and strength; give unto Him the honour that is due unto His name.
Yet it is, perhaps, one of the hardest struggles of the Christian life to learn
this sentence–“Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy name be
glory.” It is a lesson which God is ever teaching us, and teaching us sometimes
by most painful discipline. Let a Christian begin to boast, “I can do all
things,” without adding “through Christ which strengtheneth me,”
and before long he will have to groan, “I can do nothing,” and bemoan
himself in the dust. When we do anything for the Lord, and He is pleased to
accept of our doings, let us lay our crown at His feet, and exclaim, “Not
I, but the grace of God which was with me!”
