12月18日 奇特与特别的事
12月18日，周四
奇特与特别的事
“我把这些事写给你们信神的儿子之名的人，是要你们知道自己有永生。”（约翰壹书5:13）
在人类的内心深处有一种强烈的倾向，就是特别留意、特别专注于那些奇特的和特别的事物。我们似乎是本能地这么做；我想，这大概是人类堕落之后的一个结果。任何一个奇特的和特别的事物，总是比那些寻常又普通的事物更容易吸引我们的注意；这就是为什么某种灾难或自然界中的某个特别现象，总是比那日复一日、永远奇妙的大自然更能抓住我们的兴趣。华兹华斯在他那首著名的《不朽颂》颂歌结尾中谈到自己时，曾说：
“对于我，最卑微的野花也能唤起，
那泪水所不能及的最深处的思绪。”
这话是对的，我们都应该有这样的心。但问题正出在这里：对我们大多数人来说，恰恰因为那些事物总是在那里，我们反而不再为它们惊叹。篱笆旁那朵小花，并不会在我们里面激起“那泪水所不能及的最深处的思绪”。可是一旦我们看见一棵树被闪电击中，我们就立刻被吸引住了，只因为那是不寻常的和特别的。
现在，在整个“基督徒的经历”这件事上，我们也常犯同样的错误。我相信，这同样是堕落带来的偏差。当然，我们也必须顺带指出：这种倾向常常被刻意利用、被包装，甚至被当作一种“属灵生意”来经营。那些出版书籍、制作见证的人都知道：“奇特的东西”“特别的经历”最能吸引人的注意力，于是他们就挑出一些极端、少见的个案，加以大肆渲染和宣传。
然而，这恰恰和新约圣经最核心的教导背道而驰。新约从来不把重点放在“确据是用什么方式、透过怎样特别的经历临到我们”的过程上；新约真正关心的，是“神已经借着基督，把永生确实赐给了信祂的人”这一事实本身。确据的根基不在于我有没有某种惊天动地的属灵感受，而在于神在祂儿子里已经完成的救赎应许，并在祂的话语中清楚地宣告出来。
默想主题：
人类有一种强烈的倾向，特别专注于那些奇特的和特别的事物。我想，这大概是人类堕落之后的一个结果。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：代下21章，启9章
个人灵修：亚5章，约8章
December 18, Thursday
THE UNUSUAL AND THE SPECTACULAR
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 JOHN 5:13)
There is a tendency in mankind to pay great attention to and to concentrate upon the unusual and the spectacular. We seem to do that instinctively; I suppose it is one of the results of the Fall. Anything unusual or exceptional always attracts attention much more than the usual and the ordinary; that is why some sort of calamity or extraordinary thing in nature always attracts and interests us much more than the perpetual and wonderful things of nature from day to day. Wordsworth said about himself at the end of his great ode Intimations of Immortality:
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
That is right, and we ought all to put it like that. But the trouble with most of us is that because it is always there we do not marvel at it; that little flower in the hedgerow does not give rise in us thoughts that “lie too deep for tears.” But if we see a tree struck by lightning we are interested because it is unusual, because it is exceptional.
Now, we tend to do that self-same thing in the whole matter of Christian experience. I attribute this to the Fall, and, of course, one must point out in passing that this is something that tends to be organized and often becomes a business. Those who produce books know that the spectacular always appeals to the mind; so they pick out exceptional cases and give them great publicity. But this contradicts essential New Testament teaching. The New Testament never lays stress upon the way in which certainty comes to us; what it is interested in is the fact that it has come.
A Thought to Ponder: There is a tendency in mankind to pay great attention to the spectacular. I suppose it is one of the results of the Fall.