8月3日 财富与公义
财富与公义
“你们存心不可贪爱钱财，要以自己所有的为足；因为主曾说：‘我总不撇下你，也不丢弃你。’”（来13:5）
如果神看出财富对你的灵魂毫无益处，祂就会用另一种方式来使你得着真正的满足。“你们存心不可贪爱钱财，要以自己所有的为足；因为主曾说：‘我总不撇下你，也不丢弃你。’”（来13:5）
倘若神赐你财富，日后又为祂名的缘故要求你舍弃，祂会在提出这要求的同时，亲自将立约的凭据交在你手中，应许补偿你的损失，使你在今生得着百倍（太19:29），并在来世承受永生。只有愚妄人才会为了魔鬼所能提供的虚假安稳，而放弃神的宝贵应许。
不义之财总是伴随着沉重的咒诅。“耶和华咒诅恶人的家庭”（箴3:33），然而，“义人家中多有财宝”（箴15:6）。你若去拜访一个义人的家，或许找不到多少金银，但你必定能发现真正的财宝；相反，在恶人的家中或许堆满金银，却绝不会有真正的财宝，因为神的咒诅会吞噬他榨取的一切。恶人用耙子不断聚敛，神的叉子却紧随其后，将他所聚集的尽都拨散。
不敬虔的人把羞辱带进自己的家中，因为“墙里的石头必呼叫，房内的栋梁必应声”（哈2:11）。一个珍惜生命的人，即便别人给他成吨的黄金，又怎会愿意住在一座仿佛闹鬼的房子里呢？他不义之罪的呼喊会尾随他进入每一个房间，并不断在那里回荡，直到他仿佛听见墙中的石头和房内的栋梁，都在那安置它们的罪恶重压之下痛苦呻吟。
这种罪在公义的神眼中极其可憎，以至于受咒诅的不仅是那聚敛不义之财的人，就连他用来推行罪恶图谋的帮凶也同样难逃咒诅。因此，一个与主人同谋行骗的仆人，也必领受神所发给的工价：“到那日，我必惩罚一切跳过门槛、将强暴和诡诈得来之物充满主人房屋的。”（番1:9）
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：士17章，徒21章，
个人灵修：耶30-31章，可16章
AUGUST 3, MONDAY
WEALTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
“Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).
If He sees that wealth will not profit your soul, than He will pay you another way “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).
If God gives you wealth but later asks you to part with it for His name’s sake, He hands you His bond along with His request to recover the loss with “a hundredfold” advantage in this life, besides eternal life in the world to come (Matthew 19:29). Only a fool will part with God’s promises for any security the devil can give.
A heavy curse always cleaves to unrighteous gain. “The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked” (Proverbs 3:33), but “in the house of the righteous is much treasure” (Proverbs 15:6). You may visit a righteous man’s house and find no money, but you are sure to find a treasure. Yet in the wicked man’s house there may be much gold and silver but never treasure—the curse of God eats up all his gains. God’s fork follows the wicked man’s rake.
The ungodly bring shame into their houses, “for the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it” (Habakkuk 2:11). And what man who cherishes his life would live in a haunted house like this, even for tons of gold? The cry of his unrighteousness follows him into every room of the house and echoes until he can hear the stones and beams groaning under the weight of sin that put them there.
This sin is so hateful to the righteous God that not only the man who gathers unrighteous gain, but also the instruments he uses to advance his project, are cursed. Thus the servant who cooperates with his masters’s fraud collects God’s wages too. “I will punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit” (Zephaniah 1:9).