8月8日 切莫卸下公义护心镜
切莫卸下公义护心镜
信心是一面盾牌。一个士兵若非身负重伤，怎会轻易丢弃护卫自己的盾牌呢？
大卫曾因自己生活中的不洁而深感痛心：“求你宽容我，使我在去而不返之先可以力量复原。”（诗39:13）在圣洁重新掌管他的内心之前，他不愿就此离开人世。不敬虔犹如一种毒药，会吞噬良心中一切的安宁，也会使内心喜乐的泉源干涸。你若将一块石头掷入清澈的溪流，溪水很快便会浑浊。“我要听神耶和华所说的话；因为祂必应许将平安赐给祂的百姓，祂的圣民；他们却不可再转去妄行。”（诗85:8）
在追求圣洁的行事为人上漫不经心，会使你的信心暴露在极大的危险之中。信心必须蒙保存在无亏的良心里，宛如珠宝被珍藏在锦匣中一般。信心好比眼睛，而罪会在眼前投下一层朦胧的迷雾。对信心而言，圣洁的生活犹如眼睛所需的清新空气；在晴朗的日子里，我们自然能看得更远。同样，当信心透过圣洁而井然有序的生活去观看时，也能更深远、更清晰地看见神应许中的丰富。
信心是一面盾牌。一个士兵若非身负重伤，怎会轻易丢弃护卫自己的盾牌呢？倘若信心衰败，那么紧紧依附于信心、并从信心汲取力量的盼望又将如何呢？要知道，盼望从信心得着供应，就如吃奶的婴孩从母亲那里吸取养分一般。倘若信心无法在神的应许中看见赦免，盼望也就无法期盼救恩；倘若信心无法确信自己拥有神儿女的名分，盼望也就不会去等候将来的产业。信心先告诉灵魂，它已经“得与神相和”，随后灵魂方能“欢欢喜喜盼望神的荣耀”（罗5:1-2）。
你正打算挥舞圣灵的宝剑吗？倘若不洁已经严重致残了那本该握剑的信心之手，你又怎能将其拿稳呢？这把宝剑有两面锋刃，一面带来医治，另一面造成击伤；一面施行拯救，另一面则宣告定罪。圣经绝不会向一个习惯活在罪中的人，说出哪怕半句安抚之言。因此，你务要深思，且要再三深思：世上究竟有什么罪，值得你付上这一切混乱的代价，任由它最终将你的灵魂扼杀与窒息呢？
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：得1章，徒26章，
个人灵修：耶36章，路5章
AUGUST 8, SATURDAY
KEEP YOUR BREASTPLATE ON
Faith is a shield. Will a soldier drop his protection unless he has been seriously wounded?
David expressed keen sorrow for the unholiness in his life: “O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more” (Psalm 39:13). He did not want to die until holiness ruled his heart again. Ungodliness is a poison which drinks up all serenity of conscience and inward springs of joy. If you throw a stone into a clear brook it will soon become muddy. “He will speak peace unto his people, but let them not turn again to folly” (Psalm 85:8).
Carelessness in the walk of holiness dangerously exposes your faith, which is kept in good conscience as a jewel is protected in a cabinet. Faith is an eye, and sin casts a hazy mist before it. To faith, a holy life is like pure air to the eye; we can see farther on a clear day. Thus faith sees further into God’s promise when it looks through a holy well-ordered life.
Faith is a shield. Will a soldier drop his protection unless he has been seriously wounded? If faith fails, what will happen to hope, which cleaves to faith and draws strength from her as a nursing child takes nourishment from its mother? If faith cannot see pardon in the promise, then hope cannot look for salvation. If faith cannot claim sonship, hope will not wait for the inheritance. Faith informs the soul it has “peace with God” and then the soul rejoices “in the hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1–2).
Are you trying to use the sword of the Spirit? How can you hold it when unholiness has seriously maimed the hand of faith that must carry it? This sword has two edges—one side heals but the other wounds. With one it saves and with the other it damns. The Bible does not speak a single kind word to the person who practices sin. Now—think and then think some more—is any sin worth all this confusion which will inevitably strangle and smother your soul?