9月2日 喜乐的收割之时
喜乐的收割之时
“散布亮光是为义人；预备喜乐是为正直人。”（诗97:11）
神应许赐福祂的子民，使他们得着外在与内在的双重平安。若街道宁静，家中却有人自相残杀，那将是何等悲惨之地。然而，若街道与家中俱享太平，充满罪疚的良心里却争战不休，那就更加可怕。因此，基督买赎了赦罪的平安，为祂所赦免的人赢得了良心的平安；随后，祂又在应许中将这平安遗赠给我们：“我留下平安给你们，我将我的平安赐给你们。”（约14:27）在应许中，祂既立下遗命，又亲自执行，亲手将祂在爱中所遗赠的恩典分赐给信徒。所以我们无需惧怕，祂的旨意必彻底成就，因为祂永远活着，要借着圣灵的大能亲自成全这事。
“散布亮光是为义人；预备喜乐是为正直人。”（诗97:11）当神的灵将恩典与圣洁的原则撒入信徒心中时，这亮光就被栽种在里面。因此，圣经称之为“平安的果子，就是义”（来12:11）。它从圣洁中自然生长出来，如同任何果实从其同类的种籽中自然结出一般。诚然，这种籽在有些人心中成熟较快，在另一些人心中则较慢，属灵的收割并非在所有人身上同时发生。但这里有一个确据：凡在心中经历恩典撒种之时的人，也必将迎来喜乐收割之时。
若有一位圣徒最终等不到他的收割之时，神便是不守祂的应许。“那带种流泪出去的，必要欢欢乐乐地带禾捆回来。”（诗126:6）因此，若你因某位基督徒的平安尚未成熟，就以为福音本身有缺陷，你当知道：这平安正在路上，且一旦降临，便存到永远。不要只看圣徒如何开局，而要看他如何结局。“你要细察那完全人，观看那正直人，因为和平人有好结局。”（诗37:37）
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：撒上26章，林前7章，
个人灵修：结5章，约6章
SEPTEMBER 2, WENDESDAY
A HARVEST TIME OF JOY
“Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart ” (Psalm 97:11).
Now God promises to bless His people with both outward and inward peace. It would be a sad place to have quiet streets but the cutting of throats inside our homes. Yet it would be even worse to have peace both in our streets and houses but war in our guilty consciences. Therefore Christ purchased the peace of pardon to obtain peace of conscience for His forgiven ones; and then He willed it to us in the promise: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” (John 14:27). There He both writes and executes His own will—to give out with His hands what His love has bequeathed to believers. There is no fear, then—His will shall be performed to the fullest, seeing that He lives to get that done by the power of His Spirit.
“Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart” (Psalm 97:11). It is planted in the believer when principles of grace and holiness are dropped into it by the Spirit of God. Thus it is called “the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11). It sprouts up as naturally from holiness as any fruit does from seed of its own kind. It is true that this seed ripens into fruit sooner in some than it does in others—spiritual harvest does not take place at the same time in everyone. But here is the security—whoever has a seed-time of grace in his heart will also have his harvest-time of joy.
God would not be keeping His promise if even one saint should go without his reaping time. “He that goes forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:6). Now if you think the Gospel might be defective because a certain Christian’s peace has not matured, know this—it is on the way, and when it does come it will be everlasting. Do not focus on how the saint begins but how he ends. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace” (Psalm 37:36).