九月五日
我寄居在米设，住在基达帐棚之中有祸了！（诗120：5）
基督徒必须居住在不信神的世界中，徒说：“我有祸了！我有祸了！”是没有用的。耶稣不曾求神叫你离开世界，耶稣既未爲你这样祈求，你就不要这样期望。最好是靠着主的力量面向艰难，幷在其中荣耀他。仇敌时刻窥视幷侦察你的行爲是否一致，因此务要圣洁。要记得你是衆目所视、衆手所指的，他们所期望于你的，过于对别人的期望。有人崇爱你，有人敬仰你，有人留意你，也有人要陷害你，所以不要留下一个使人指责的机会。让他们发现你仅有的错就是你的善良。你要像但以理一样使他们不能不说：“我们要找参这但以理的把柄，除非在他神的律法中就寻不著。”你要恒久一致，也要有用。
或许你想：“若我有一个我更喜欢的地位或者我更能服待主，我现在这样却是不行的。”但你是居住在恶人之中，他们更需要你的劝勉；若他们弯曲，更需你去使他们变直；若他们悖谬，更需你去转变他们高傲的心归向真道。医生不是当到病人多的地方去服务吗？兵丁的荣誉不是在枪林弹雨的战场上得来的吗？当你对付各方面来的攻击和罪恶因而疲劳不堪的时候，要想到一切圣徒都曾忍受过相同的苦难。他们幷不是卧在柔软的床上进入天堂，因此你也不要希望你的路比他们更容易。他们在战场上冒死斗争；你若不像耶稣基督的精兵一样忍受苦难，也不能得冠冕。因此要：“在真道上站立得稳，要作丈夫，要刚强。”
September
5
“Woe
is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.” —
Psalm 120:5
As a Christian you have to live in the
midst of an ungodly world, and it is of little use for you to cry “Woe is
me.” Jesus did not pray O that you should be taken out of the world, and
what He did not pray for you need not desire. Better far in the Lord’s strength
to meet the difficulty, and glorify Him in it. The enemy is ever on the watch
to detect inconsistency in your conduct; be therefore very holy. Remember that
the eyes of all are upon you, and that more is expected from you than from
other men. Strive to give no occasion for blame. Let your goodness be the only
fault they can discover in you. Like Daniel, compel them to say of you,
“We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it
against him concerning the law of his God.” Seek to be useful as well as
consistent. Perhaps you think, “If I were in a more favourable position I
might serve the Lord’s cause, but I cannot do any good where I am”; but
the worse the people are among whom you live, the more need have they of your
exertions; if they be crooked, the more necessity that you should set them
straight; and if they be perverse, the more need have you to turn their proud
hearts to the truth. Where should the physician be but where there are many
sick? Where is honour to be won by the soldier but in the hottest fire of the
battle? And when weary of the strife and sin that meets you on every hand,
consider that all the saints have endured the same trial. They were not carried
on beds of down to heaven, and you must not expect to travel more easily than
they. They had to hazard their lives unto the death in the high places of the
field, and you will not be crowned till you also have endured hardness as a
good soldier of Jesus Christ. Therefore, “stand fast in the faith, quit
you like men, be strong.”
