3月25日 世上最微妙的使命

新郎的朋友。（约三29）

人的良善与纯洁，不该拿来吸引人归向自己，只该用作引人归主的磁石。若我圣洁的目的不是归向神，就不是真正的圣洁；这只会掀起越轨的热情，使人偏离正路。一个卓越的圣徒，若不表彰耶稣基督，而只夸耀基督为他所做的事，他就会成为别人的绊脚石。他给人的印象是——“那人品德多么好！”这不是新郎的真朋友；因“我”不断的在兴旺，而他却不然。

为要保持对新郎的友谊和忠诚，就要留心我们和他在道德上、生命上的关系。这些比一切都重要，甚至是顺服。有时没有什么要顺服的，只要保持与耶稣基督在生命上的关系，不让任何事物从中破坏。当然亦有需要顺服的事；如有危机来到，我们便要知道神的旨意如何。可是我们大部分的生活，并非有意识的顺服，而是保持与神的关系——作新郎的朋友。基督徒所做的工作，可能会转移别人专一向主的心，使之外鹜！我们非但不是新郎的朋友，反而往往代天行道，用神的武器，作违背他的工作。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，我知道自己近来很少将生命深处对耶稣的信心实践出来，潜藏的动机似乎经常蠢蠢欲动。求你将基督里面的单纯引进我的生命中，使我只留心要获得你的认可。

March 25 The Most Delicate Mission On Earth

“The friend of the Bridegroom.” John 3:29

Goodness and purity ought never to attract attention to themselves, they ought simply to be magnets to draw to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing towards Him, it is not holiness of the right order, but an influence that will awaken inordinate affection and lead souls away into side-eddies. A beautiful saint may be a hindrance if he does not present Jesus Christ but only what Christ has done for him. He will leave the impression – “What a fine character that man is!” That is not being a true friend of the Bridegroom; I am increasing all the time, He is not.

In order to maintain this friendship and loyalty to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful of our moral and vital relationship to Him than of any other thing, even of obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey, the only thing to do is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, to see that nothing interferes with that. Only occasionally do we have to obey. When a crisis arises we have to find out what God’s will is, but the greater part of the life is not conscious obedience but the maintenance of this relationship – the friend of the Bridegroom. Christian work may be a means of evading the soul’s concentration on Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, we may become amateur providences, and may work against Him whilst we use His weapons.