9月11日 警惕弟兄纷争
警惕弟兄纷争
除了基督和天国之外，撒但最嫉恨信徒所拥有的，就是彼此间的和睦与相爱。
福音既然不允许我们以牙还牙，以怒报怒，就更严禁弟兄向弟兄脸上喷吐烈火。当基督徒中间开始冒起争竞的轻烟时，我们大可断定，那火星必是撒但撒下的。牠是一切纷争背后煽风点火的罪魁祸首。
每当圣徒心中刮起风暴，情绪的狂风高声呼啸，我们很容易看出是谁搅动了这场狂澜。魔鬼在人尚未治死的私欲上施展黑暗诡计，轻易在信徒中间掀起许多分裂的风浪。例如，保罗和巴拿巴原本和睦地启程，撒但却在他们旅途中掀起风暴将他们分开：“于是二人起了争论，甚至彼此分开。”（徒15:39）
除了基督与天国之外，撒但最嫉恨信徒所拥有的，就是他们彼此间的和睦与相爱。牠若不能使他们与基督隔绝，不能拦阻他们进入天国，就会阴险地幸灾乐祸，看着他们在风暴中驶向彼岸。牠巴不得他们像一支被打散的舰队，彼此分离；也巴不得圣徒在天路历程中，失去其他基督徒的安慰与扶持。魔鬼深知，只要能制造纷争，就有望带来毁灭；因为单独的一艘船，远比整支舰队更容易被掳获。
我喜爱清朗平静的空气，但我最爱看到这气息弥漫在教会中。我必须承认，当看到这些年来纷争在信徒中造成的悲惨后果时，我才更深体会到这份恩慈是何等浩大。谬误像什么呢？岂不像烟雾吗？纷争像什么呢？岂不像烈火吗？这正是地狱本身的象征，在那里黑暗与火焰交织，使恐怖倍增。请容我提出三个理由，说明信徒为何应当竭力追求和睦与合一。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：撒下6章，林前16章，
个人灵修：结14章，约15章
SEPTEMBER 11, FRIDAY
DIVISION AMONG BRETHREN
There is nothing, next to Christ and heaven, which Satan begrudges believers more than their peace and mutual love.
Now if the Gospel will not allow us to pay our enemies back in their own coin, returning anger for anger, then certainly it forbids a brother to spit fire into the face of another brother. When such embers of contention begin to smoke among Christians, we can be sure Satan planted the spark; he is the one great kindle-coal of all strife.
Whenever there is a storm in the spirits of saints, and the winds of their emotions are high and loud, it is easy to see who has stirred up the tempest. The devil practices his black art on unmortified lusts, that enable him to raise easily many storms of division among believers. Paul and Barnabas, for instance, set out in a calm together, but Satan sent a storm to part them in the middle of their journeyings: “And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other” (Acts 15:39).
There is nothing, next to Christ and heaven, which Satan begrudges believers more than their peace and mutual love. If he cannot separate them from Christ, and stop them from getting to heaven, he takes sinister pleasure in watching them get there in a storm. He would have them be like a shattered fleet separated from one another, saints deprived of the comfort and help of other Christians along the way. And when the devil can divide, he hopes to ruin also, knowing well that one ship is more easily taken than a squadron.
Now I love clear, calm air; but most of all I enjoy it in the church. I confess I am more aware of the greatness of this mercy when I see the dismal results of divisions that have troubled believers during these last years. What can I compare error to, better than smoke? And contention, than to fire? It is an emblem of hell itself, where darkness and flames meet to intensify the horror. But let me give you three reasons why a believer should give himself to peace and unity.