5月20日 仰望天城
仰望天城
若要劝说一位君王丢弃冠冕，穿着王袍去泥淖中打滚，恐怕也比劝说一个心中充满了天堂荣耀瞻望的圣徒去犯罪还要容易。
天堂是神设立宝座的王城。天使的喜乐，便是站在那里侍奉神：“我是站在神面前的加百列”（路1:19）。这意味着：“我是侍奉神的众灵之一，我瞻仰祂的面，如同臣仆侍奉君王。”每一个忠信的灵魂，都领受了这尊荣的应许。
没有什么比默想天堂那福乐的基业，更能有力地震撼圣徒的心灵，因为那是他结束地上一切争战后的赏赐。这默想应如利剑，割断试探的筋脉，斩下那些即便用尽千言万语都无法降伏的私欲之首。罪怎能与如此荣耀的盼望共存呢？正是当天堂的景象从基督徒的视野中淡去，当他遗忘了那荣耀之地的盼望时，他才开始立起偶像，正如以色列人在摩西不在场时，铸造并叩拜金牛犊一般。只要天堂重回眼帘，基督徒的心就会因思想它而火热起来。若要劝说一位君王丢弃冠冕，穿着王袍去泥淖中打滚，恐怕也比劝说一个心中充满了天堂荣耀瞻望的圣徒去犯罪还要容易。
罪是魔鬼的工作，而非圣徒的本分。圣徒每时每刻都在等候那召令呼唤他，与众天使及得荣的圣徒一同侍立在神的宝座前。当争战最激烈、弹雨最密集时，这思想应当何等振奋并扶持他的心！如果他必须经过水火才能到达彼岸，那么与天堂永恒的安慰相比，这点暂时的苦楚又算得了什么呢？常常将天堂的喜乐摆在面前，会激励你存心忍耐，奔那摆在前头的路程；它会助你忍受与试探、患难之间的短暂搏斗。不仅如此，它还会使你生发出这样的确信：“我想，现在的苦楚若比起将来要显于我们的荣耀，就不足介意了。”（罗8:18）
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：民29章，诗73章，
个人灵修：赛21章，彼后2章
MAY 20, WENDESDAY
HEAVEN IN VIEW
You may as soon persuade a king to throw down his royal diadem and wallow in the mud with his robes on, as convince a saint to sin when his heart is filled with the expectation of heaven’s glory.
Heaven is the royal city where God keeps His court. The joy of angels is to stand there before God: “I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God” (Luke 1:19). That is, “I am one of those heavenly spirits who wait on God, and stand before His face, as courtiers wait upon their prince.” Every faithful soul is promised this honor.
Nothing should have a more powerful effect upon a saint’s spirit than to consider his blissful estate in heaven as being the reward of all his conflicts here on earth. This sword should cut the very sinews of temptation and behead those lusts which defy whole troops of other arguments. How can sin coexist with the hope of such glory? It is when the thoughts of heaven are long out of the Christian’s sight, and he forgets his hope of that glorious place, that he begins to set up some idol as Israel set up the calf and worshipped it in the absence of Moses. Only let heaven come into view, and the Christian’s heart will be well warmed with thoughts of it. You may as soon persuade a king to throw down his royal diadem and wallow in the mud with his robes on, as convince a saint to sin when his heart is filled with the expectation of heaven’s glory.
Sin is a devil’s work, not a saint’s. The saint waits every hour for the summons that will call him to stand with angels and glorified saints before the throne of God. How this should cheer and sustain his heart when the fight is hottest and the bullets fly thickest! If he must go through fire and water to reach it, what is that discomfort compared to the eternal comfort of heaven? Keeping the joy of heaven always before you will help you to run your race with patience. It will help you endure your short scuffles with temptation and affliction. What is more, it will make you reckon also that these afflictions “are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).