7月27日 保守纯正动机
保守纯正动机
若你真渴望成为圣洁，就务要谦卑，因这两者紧密相连。
撒但的诡计，就是不断捶打公义的护心镜，将其延伸到金属所能承受的极限之外，最终使之破裂。每当你倚仗这种被扭曲的公义时，你就破坏了这副军装本来的属性与目的：你的公义变成了不义，你的圣洁也堕落成了邪恶。
还有什么比骄傲更可恶的呢？这般骄傲，竟在神亲自开辟的救恩之路上横行霸道。若你真渴望成为圣洁，就务要谦卑，因这两者紧密相连。“世人哪，耶和华已指示你何为善。祂向你所要的是什么呢？只要你行公义，好怜悯，存谦卑的心，与你的神同行。”（弥6:8）
神并未要求你借着自己的圣洁去赚取天堂，而是要你借此向那位为你赢得了天堂的基督显出爱与感恩。借此，我们便能明白基督是如何劝勉门徒行在圣洁中的：“你们若爱我，就必遵守我的命令”（约14:15）。这仿佛在说：“你们知道我为何来到世间，又为何离世而去；我舍了生命，又重新取回，为要替你们代求。你们若看重我的这些作为，以及你们从中收割的蒙福果实，就当借着爱我并遵守我的命令，来证明这一点。”
当圣徒借着基督所行的一切，都作为感恩的祭献给祂时，这便是由爱孕育、由爱喂养的福音圣洁。因基督爱我们，其“爱情如死之坚强”（歌8:6），我们便如新妇般回应祂：“我在那里要将我的爱情给你。”（歌7:12）这位新妇又进一步诉说她的爱中包含着什么：“有各样新陈佳美的果子；我的良人，这都是我为你存留的。”（歌7:13）
《雅歌》中的这位圣徒认信了基督，又深深畅饮了基督对她的爱。如今，为了以感恩回报祂的爱，她便奋发起来，将从自己圣洁的生活中采集来的、由祂亲自赐下的恩典所结出的佳美果子，用来献给祂。她没有将这些果子囤积起来，去喂养自己的骄傲与自信，而是将它们专门留给她的良人，好使祂得着一切的赞美。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：士10章，徒14章，
个人灵修：耶23章，可9章
JULY 27, MONDAY
KEEP YOUR MOTIVE PURE
If you really want to be holy, be humble, because the two are clasped together.
Satan’s policy is to crack the breastplate of righteousness by beating it out farther than the metal can bend. And every time you trust in this distortion you destroy the very nature and purpose of the armor—your righteousness becomes unrighteousness and your holiness degenerates into wickedness.
Is anything worse than pride, such a pride which runs rampant over the way which God Himself has made for saving souls? If you really want to be holy, be humble, because the two are clasped together. “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8). God has not asked you to earn heaven by your holiness but to show love and thankfulness to Christ who earned it for you. Thus we have insight into the way Christ persuaded His disciples to walk in holiness: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). It is as if He had said, “You know why I came and why I am going out of the world—I lay down My life and take it up again to intercede for you. If you value these deeds and the blessed fruit you reap from them, prove it by loving Me enough to keep My commandments.”
When everything the saint does through Christ is offered up as a thanksgiving sacrifice to Him, then this is gospel holiness bred and fed by this love. Because Christ has loved us with “love … strong as death,” our response is that of a bride: “I will give thee my loves” (Song of Solomon 8:6; 7:12). And this bride explains what is in her expression of love: “All manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my Beloved” (v. 13).
The saint in Solomon’s Song had confessed her faith in Christ and had drunk deeply of His love for her. And now to return His love in thankfulness, she stirred herself to entertain Him with the pleasant fruits of His own graces, gathered from her holy behavior. She did not lay these fruits up to feed her pride and self-confidence but reserved them for her Beloved, so He could have all the praise.