5月5日 更美的居所
更美的居所
非圣洁，无福乐。你要么全盘接受这份应许，要么就一无所得。
我们可以紧紧抓住这个应许：神为我们所预备的，远超过我们一切最狂放的想象（赛 64:4；林前 2:9）。你当认真察验自己：究竟是专心于属天的事，还是沉迷于属地的事？因为这两者绝不能并存。属地的事如同垃圾，不但不能滋养生命，反而会败坏人的胃口，使人对喂养灵魂的真粮失去渴慕。一个被这些“垃圾”败坏了胃口的人，属天的事对他而言便毫无吸引力。唯有当你像浪子一样走到尽头，彻底认清自己的败坏时，才会真正下判断说：属天的事才是更美的。那时你就会明白，家中的饼远比外头的豆荚更好，父的家也比那与猪同住的田间更美。
你若要得着天，就必须得着基督，因为祂是包括万有的；而你若要得着基督，就必须既接受祂的赎罪祭，也接受祂的差遣。非圣洁，无福乐。你要么全盘接受这份应许，要么就一无所得。你可以将圣洁与福乐比作两位姊妹——利亚与拉结[1]。从表面看，福乐就像拉结一样娇美，连属肉体的心也会被她吸引；但圣洁却像利亚，她是长女，亦有其独特之美。虽在今生她似乎带着某种“不讨喜”的外貌——因悔改流泪而红肿的双眼，因治死罪而布满劳苦痕迹的面庞。
这就是天国的法则：妹妹不能越过姐姐先出嫁。我们若不先拥抱利亚（圣洁，以及随之而来的悔改与治死罪的本分），就不能得着那美丽的拉结（天上的福乐）。你愿意按此法则而活吗？请与基督和祂的恩典联合，然后在顺境与逆境中接受严厉的操练。既要耐得住炎热，也要守得住寒冷。你若恒久忍耐，最终，那更美的姊妹必赐给你。这是赢得属天奖赏的唯一路径。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：民12-13章，诗49章，
个人灵修：赛2章，来10章
[1]这段文字带有明显的“属灵应用”色彩，但它属于清教徒传统中所接纳的“教义性比喻”，而非纯粹主观的、破坏经文原意的灵意解经。将利亚与拉结对比，其实是基督教历史上一个非常悠久的传统，这可以追溯到奥古斯丁。清教徒作家（如托马斯·曼顿或约翰·欧文）经常使用这种比喻，目的是为了增强教义的可感性。他们认为，既然神在圣经中使用了许多图像，我们也可以借用这些图像作为窗口，让枯燥的教义变得鲜活。
MAY 5, TUESDAY
A BETTER DWELLING PLACE
No holiness, no happiness. Take the whole offer, or take nothing.
We can cling to the promise that what God has prepared for us is beyond our most extravagant dream (Isaiah 64:4; 1 Corinthians 2:9).
Find out for yourself whether you are devoted to heavenly or earthly things. You cannot pursue both. Earthly things are like trash, which not only does not nourish, but takes away the appetite from that which would. Heavenly things have no appeal for one corrupted by such trash. Only when you come to the end of yourself, like the prodigal, will you make the judgment that heavenly things are better. Then you will know bread is better fare than husks, and your Father’s house a better place to dwell than with hogs in the field.
If you will have heaven, you must have Christ, who is all in all. And if Christ, you must accept His service as well as His sacrifice. No holiness, no happiness. Take the whole offer, or take nothing. One can compare holiness and happiness to those sisters, Leah and Rachel. On the surface, happiness, like Rachel, seems more desirable. (Even a carnal heart will fall in love with that.) But holiness, like Leah, is the elder and has a special beauty also, though in this life it appears at some disadvantage—the eyes red from tears of repentance and the face furrowed with the work of mortification.
Here is heaven’s law: The younger sister cannot be bestowed before the elder. We cannot enjoy fair Rachel—heaven and happiness—until we first embrace Leah—holiness—with all her demanding duties of repentance and mortification. Will you live by this law? Marry Christ and His grace, then serve a hard apprenticeship in temptations both of prosperity and adversity. Endure the heat of the one and the cold of the other. If you will be patient, at last the fairer sister will be handed over to you. This is the only way to win the prize of heavenly things.