6月29日 束紧真理的腰带
束紧真理的腰带
在圣经中，束腰意味着力量：“因为你曾以力量束我的腰，使我能争战。”（诗18:39）
我们已经看见，为何纯全会被比作士兵的腰带。现在我们继续来看这腰带的另一重功用：坚固人的腰，并将全副军装紧紧贴合于身。在圣经中，束腰意味着力量：“因为你曾以力量束我的腰，使我能争战。”（诗18:39）又说祂“放松有力之人的腰带”（伯12:21）；在此处，希伯来原文的含意即“祂解开他们的腰带”。纯全是一项恩典，能在基督徒一生的行事为人中建立他、坚固他；相反，假冒为善却使人的心软弱摇摆：“心怀二意的人，在他一切所行的路上都没有定见。”（雅1:8）
灵魂中蕴含多少纯全，就拥有多少属天的纯洁与不朽。“并愿所有诚心爱我们主耶稣基督的人都蒙恩惠！”（弗6:24）因此，各样恩典的力量，都取决于其纯全的程度。纯全不仅遮盖一切的软弱，更坚固灵魂，使我们能挺身面对基督徒的属灵争战。
“正直人的纯正必引导自己；奸诈人的乖僻必毁灭自己。”（箴11:3）尽管假冒为善者用尽各样聪明的诡计以求自保，最终仍必沉沦于自己的摇摆不定中；然而，纯全却保守基督徒稳妥，使之高踞于一切危险之上。
以色列人的假冒为善，在于他们是“居心不正”的世代，他们的灵“向着神，心不诚实”（诗78:8）。石头若未端正地安放于根基之上，既不坚固，也立不长久。
在同一篇诗篇中，我们看见假冒为善的枝条结出了更多苦果：他们“反倒退后，行诡诈……他们改变，如同翻背的弓。”（57节）。一张有瑕疵的弓，在未拉开前，你看不出任何问题。但当你将箭拉满弦时，它就崩裂了。当一颗虚假的心承受压力时，正是如此。
然而，纯全使灵魂在面对试探时仍得保守清洁。“行正直路的，步步安稳。”（箴10:9）
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：书1章，诗120-122章，
个人灵修：赛61章，太9章
JUNE 29, MONDAY
FASTENING THE BELT OF TRUTH
In Scripture, girding implies strength: “Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle” (Psalm 18:39).
We have seen why sincerity is compared to the soldier’s girdle or belt. Now we proceed to the other use of this girdle, which is to strengthen his loins and to fasten his armor close to him. In Scripture, girding implies strength: “Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle” (Psalm 18:39). He “weakeneth the strength of the mighty” (Job 12:21); in this passage the Hebrew meaning is “He loosens their girdle.” It is a grace which establishes and strengthens the Christian in his whole walk; on the contrary, hypocrisy weakens and unsettles the heart: “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8).
A soul has as much of heaven’s purity and incorruption as it has sincerity. “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity” (Ephesians 6:24). So, then, the strength of every grace lies in its measure of sincerity. But not only does sincerity cover all infirmities but strengthens the soul for Christian warfare.
“The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them” (Proverbs 11:3). Despite all his clever strategies to save himself the hypocrite eventually sinks into his own instability; but sincerity holds the Christian safe above all dangers.
Israel’s hypocrisy was “a generation that set not their heart aright”; they had a spirit which “was not steadfast with God” (Psalm 78:8). Stones which were not set right on the foundation cannot stand strong nor long.
We see more of this bitter fruit from the hypocrite’s branches in the same Psalm: they “turned back, and dealt unfaithfully… they were turned aside like a deceitful bow” (v. 57). Before a defective bow is bent, you cannot see anything wrong with it. But when you draw the arrow to the head it flies to pieces. This is exactly what happens to a false heart when it is put under stress.
Sincerity, however, keeps the soul pure in the face of temptation. “He that walketh uprightly walketh surely” (Proverbs 10:9).