4月28日 我们的盼望在天上
我们的盼望在天上
基督徒的一切盼望都在天上。他不指望这世界所能提供的一切，能带给他持久的满足。
基督徒的职业是属天的。也就是说，神是我们的总监察者。我们也许在地上播种，但收成却是在天上。这种眼光使我们的心思意念始终保持在属天的高处。从属灵的意义上说，基督徒脚踪所及之处，非凡眼所能见。他脚踏月亮，身披日头。他从高处俯瞰尘世之人，正如站在高山之巅的人俯视沼泽里的居民。他呼吸的是天上清新的空气，而世人却在肉体私欲与利禄的迷雾中几近窒息。他深知，一颗天上的珍珠，其价值远超一生所积攒的所有属地的财富。
圣徒一生最重要的事业，就是作那些扩展天国的事。他不仅关心自己的益处，也热切地招募朋友和邻里，一同投入这永恒的事业。而这当然会令阴间惊惧：什么？他自己上天堂还不满足，竟还要借着圣洁的榜样和忠心的事奉，把别人也一同带去吗？这必会引动那吼叫的狮子从洞中冲出来。可以肯定的是，这样的基督徒在天路上定会遭遇魔鬼的拦阻。
基督徒的一切盼望都在天上。他不指望这世界所能提供的一切，能带给他持久的满足。事实上，若他在信仰中所能盼望的赏赐仅限于今生，他就会认为自己是世上最可怜的人。不，他所向往的是天国与永生。即便他穷得在遗嘱里留不下一分钱，他仍看自己比世上最显赫的王子的后裔拥有更伟大的产业。
盼望是一种恩典，它使我们在所应许的荣耀前景中学习喜乐。在最艰难的时刻，它始终坐在我们身旁。当处境糟到无以复加时，盼望会使我们的眼目离开眼前的患难，将其安放在将来永恒的喜乐上。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：民5章，诗39章，
个人灵修：歌3章，来3章
APRIL 28, TUESDAY
OUR HOPE IS IN HEAVEN
The Christian’s hopes are all heavenly.He does not expect lasting satisfactionfrom anything the world has to offer.
The Christian’s occupation is heavenly. That is to say, God is our overseer. We may plant our seeds here on earth, but our crop will be harvested in heaven. This keeps our hearts and desires on a celestial plane. In a spiritual sense, the Christian’s feet stand where other men cannot even see. He treads on the moon and is clothed with the sun. He looks down on earthly men as one from a high hill looks upon those living in a swamp. While he breathes in pure heavenly air, they are suffocating in a fog of carnal pleasures and profits. He knows one heavenly pearl is worth infinitely more than the earthly accumulation of a whole lifetime.
The great business of a saint’s life is to be doing things that enlarge the kingdom of heaven. Not only is he interested in his own welfare, but he eagerly recruits his friends and neighbors to join in his eternal enterprise. Now this alarms hell. What! Not content to go to heaven himself, but by his holy example and faithful work will he try to carry them along with him also? This brings the lion raging out of his den. Such a Christian, to be sure, will find the devil in his way to oppose him.
The Christian’s hopes are all heavenly. He does not expect lasting satisfaction from anything the world has to offer. Indeed, he would think himself the most miserable person to have ever lived, if the only rewards he could expect from his religion were on this side of eternity. No, it is heaven and eternal life that he anticipates. And though he is so poor that he cannot leave one cent in his will, yet he counts himself a greater heir than if he were a child of the greatest prince on earth.
Hope is the grace that shows us how to rejoice in the prospect of promised glory. It sits beside us in the worst of times. When things are so bad that we cannot imagine how they could possibly get worse, hope lifts our eyes from our immediate troubles and places them on our future eternal joys.