8月10日 圣徒的分别为圣

所以那照神旨意受苦的人，要一心为善，将自己灵魂交与那信实的造化之主。（彼前四19）

故意选择受苦是不妥当的；但若是为了神的旨意而甘心受苦，就完全不同了。正常的圣徒不会选择受苦；像主耶稣一样，他的选择是为了神的旨意，不管这是否需要受苦。没有圣徒能干预别的圣徒在受苦上的操练。

一个满足主心意的圣徒，能使别的圣徒靠神坚强、成熟起来。能帮助我们的，并非那些一味同情我们的人。他们会成为阻碍，因为同情可能叫人软弱。最明白圣徒的，就是最靠近主心怀的圣徒。我们若接受别人的同情，反应就是－－“神对我实在太苛刻了。”所以主耶稣说自怜出于魔鬼（太十六23）。他从不反驳，也从不维护自己。

不要以为主耶稣在世时需要人的同情；他从不接受人的同情，是因为深知地上没有人真明白他的使命。他只接受天父及天使的同情（比较路十五10）。按世人的眼光来看，神把圣徒放在最无出色的角落去，实在是极大的浪费。我们会说：“神放我在这里，因为我非常有用。”耶稣却从不这样衡量自己的生命。其实神是把圣徒放在能荣耀他的地方，我们是无权选择到底那是什么地方。

祈祷◆主啊，我完全仰赖你；在你出现之前，我若有“迷失”的感觉，相信对我是好的.

August 10 The Sacrament Of The Saint

“Let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing.” 1 Peter 4:19

To choose to suffer means that there is something wrong; to choose God's Will even if it means suffering is a very different thing. No healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he chooses God's will, as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. No saint dare interfere with the discipline of suffering in another saint.

The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. The people who do us good are never those who sympathize with us, they always hinder, because sympathy enervates. No one understands a saint but the saint who is nearest to the Saviour. If we accept the sympathy of a saint, the reflex feeling is – Well, God is dealing hardly with me. That is why Jesus said self-pity was of the devil (see Matt. 16:23). Be merciful to God's reputation. It is easy to blacken God's character because God never answers back, He never vindicates Himself. Beware of the thought that Jesus needed sympathy in His earthly life; He refused sympathy from man because He knew far too wisely that no one on earth understood what He was after. He took sympathy from His Father only, and from the angels in heaven. (Cf. Luke 15:10.)

Notice God's unutterable waste of saints, according to the judgment of the world. God plants His saints in the most useless places. We say – God intends me to be here because I am so useful. Jesus never estimated His life along the line of the greatest use. God puts His saints where they will glorify Him, and we are no judges at all of where that is.