7月16日 圣洁的衰微
圣洁的衰微
与上一代相比，圣洁的能力已经在我们中间衰退了！
约西亚登基时，犹大国已经摇摇欲坠。然而，因为他的心归向神，并立定心意在神面前行，神就垂听了约西亚的恳求，饶恕了那些已经被定罪、站在监牢门口的百姓。这个国家的安全与这位君王的生命息息相关，因为约西亚死后不久，国家就再次陷入毁灭之中（王下23:25-27）。
当马丁·路德预见神审判的乌云正向德国逼近时，他告诉朋友，他会尽己所能使这审判在他有生之年不致降临，而且他相信神会保守。但他最后说：“等我离世以后，后来的人就要自己多加警醒了。”
与上一代相比，圣洁的能力已经在我们中间衰退了！在许多自称信奉基督的人中间，基督信仰的活水变得浑浊不清、满是沉渣、污秽而不圣洁。我们知道，神不会长久容忍这样的事。如果埃及人能从尼罗河的低水位预知旱灾将至，那么，敬虔能力的衰退，必定能让我们看见审判正盘旋在半空。
我们听见许多人为失去的事物哀哭，有人在战争中失去了朋友的性命，有人失去了财富和产业。但在所有哀哭的人中，最该痛哭流涕的，是那些仍在去教会却已经失去起初爱心的人。因为他们已经丧失了对基督、对祂的真理、对敬拜、对同作仆人的弟兄姊妹的热忱，也失去了在神和人面前圣洁行事为人的心志，彻底的败坏已经悄然开始。
我们是一群从无数危险和死亡中被救赎出来的人。一个刚刚获救、脖子上的绞索才被解开的人，立刻又去偷窃欺诈，这是极不合宜的。毫无疑问，挪亚刚亲眼目睹全地在自己眼前沉没，安全登陆后不久就喝醉了，这使得他的罪更加严重。神唯独留下他这一个义人，原是要借着敬虔的后裔重新栽种祂的世界。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：书23章，徒3章，
个人灵修：耶12章，太26章
JULY 16, THURSDAY
HOLINESS IS ON THE WANE
The power of holiness has deteriorated among us, compared to what it was a generation ago!
When Josiah came to the crown he found Judah crumbling to pieces; yet because his heart was turned to God, and prepared to walk before Him, God accepted Josiah’s plea for a people under arrest and at the prison door. Their safety was linked to the ruler’s life, for soon after Josiah died the nation tumbled into ruin again (2 Kings 23:25–17).
When Martin Luther foresaw the black clouds of God’s judgment coming toward Germany he told friends that he would do his best to keep it from falling in his lifetime, and he believed that it would not. But he concluded, “When I am gone, let them that come after me look to it.”
The power of holiness has deteriorated among us, compared to what it was a generation ago! Christianity runs unclean and full of dregs, murky and unholy among professing believers in Christ. And we know God will not put up with it much longer. If Egypt knows a drought is coming by the low ebbing of the Nile, surely we can see judgment hovering by the fall of the power of godliness.
We hear many people mourning for what they have lost—some for the lives of friends in war, others for their wealth and possessions. But the group who must claim first place among mourners are churchgoers who have lost their first love. Thorough decay has set in because they have forfeited their compassion for Christ, His truth, worship, fellow servants, and their holy walk before God and man.
We are a people redeemed from countless dangers and deaths. It is a poor time for a rescued man to start stealing and cheating again, as soon as the rope is cut from his neck. Surely it added to Noah’s sin to be drunk almost as soon as he had safely landed on shore, after he had seen the whole earth sinking before his eyes. Here was the one righteous man God had left to plant His world again with a godly seed.