6月17日 神炼净人的爱
神炼净人的爱
你是否不仅为你的心怀二意感到忧伤，而且如今更定意全心全意地敬畏神的名？
神是否曾将你投入祂的火炉之中？祂的话语是否像火一样抓住你，炼净你那不洁的灵魂，使你里面的不信、骄傲和虚伪被显露出来，并像金子中的渣滓一样被分离出去？只有到那个时候，你才能够自由地将罪从你的灵魂中割裂出去，并承认自己曾是何等败坏的人，尽管你先前的属灵光景在世人眼中显得十分动人。当你回想起自己曾在众人面前，奉基督的名上演着宗教排场，而私下里却在内心深处那上了锁的更衣室中暗自纵容私欲时，你是否感到懊悔忧伤？然而，更为关键的是，你是否不仅为你的心怀二意感到忧伤，而且如今更定意全心全意地敬畏神的名？
你的心中是否只存着一个渴慕：爱基督，并且蒙基督所爱？如果神圣灵的大能已经更新了你的心，将你分散的情感汇聚到这单一的河道中，并驱使你带着甘甜而猛烈的热忱奔向祂，那么你确实蒙了主极大的赐福。在你的生命之流中，可能仍会浮现出败坏的高山巨石，阻挡你灵魂奔向神的水流；但即使有这些蜿蜒曲折阻碍着通向祂的最直接道路，纯全之心就像江河归海一样永远不会折返，直到它将你带到神面前。
纯全的心，是一颗单纯的心。假冒为善的人却是毒蛇的种类，他像蛇一样，为了自身的利益时而收缩、时而伸长，不愿将真实的自己暴露在众人面前。他这样做也是有充分理由的，因为他在最不为人所知的地方，才能获得最大的信任。假冒为善的人“那些向耶和华深藏谋略的，又在暗中行事，说：‘谁看见我们呢？ 谁知道我们呢？’”（赛29:15）。假冒为善者口中敬虔的言辞，与他心中邪恶的动机之间，相去何止千里。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：申22章，诗110-111章，
个人灵修：赛49章，启19章
JUNE 17, WENDESDAY
GOD’S PURIFYING LOVE
Are you not only sorrowful because of your divided affections but now wholeheartedly determined to fear the name of God?
Has God ever cast you into His furnace? Has His Word, like fire, taken a hold on you and refined your impure spirit so the unbelief, pride, and hypocrisy have been made visible and been separated like dross from gold? Only then are you free to sever sin from your soul and confess what a wretched person you have been, even though your spiritual condition appeared attractive in man’s eye. Do you grieve to recall the religious pageantry you produced for the community in the name of Christ while you privately entertained lusts inside the locked dressing rooms of your heart? But, even more vital, are you not only sorrowful because of your divided affections but now wholeheartedly determined to fear the name of God?
Do you have just one design, to love Christ and be loved of Him? If the mighty power of God’s Spirit has renewed your heart and gathered your affections into this one channel, and caused you to run to Him with sweet violence, then you are greatly blessed of the Lord. Mountains and rocks of corruption may surface in your stream to hinder the free course of your soul as it rushes to God; but even with these windings and turnings to block the most direct way to Him, sincerity—like water to the sea—will never turn back until it carries you to Him.
A sincere heart is a simple heart. The hypocrite is bred by the serpent, and like him, shrinks up or lengthens himself out to his best advantage, unwilling to expose himself to others. He has good reason, too, because he has the most credibility where he is least known. Hypocrites “seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?” (Isaiah 29:15). The hypocrite’s pious words and the evil motives of his heart are miles apart.