What My Obedience to God Costs Other People

As they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon . . . , and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus —Luke 23:26

If we obey God, it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the pain begins. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything— it is a delight. But to those who do not love Him, our obedience does cost a great deal. If we obey God, it will mean that other people’s plans are upset. They will ridicule us as if to say, “You call this Christianity?” We could prevent the suffering, but not if we are obedient to God. We must let the cost be paid.

When our obedience begins to cost others, our human pride entrenches itself and we say, “I will never accept anything from anyone.” But we must, or disobey God. We have no right to think that the type of relationships we have with others should be any different from those the Lord Himself had (see Luke 8:1-3).

A lack of progress in our spiritual life results when we try to bear all the costs ourselves. And actually, we cannot. Because we are so involved in the universal purposes of God, others are immediately affected by our obedience to Him. Will we remain faithful in our obedience to God and be willing to suffer the humiliation of refusing to be independent? Or will we do just the opposite and say, “I will not cause other people to suffer”? We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the situation, but it will grieve our Lord. If, however, we obey God, He will care for those who have suffered the consequences of our obedience. We must simply obey and leave all the consequences with Him.

Beware of the inclination to dictate to God what consequences you would allow as a condition of your obedience to Him.

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我對神的順服將損害別人的利益

他們就抓住他（古利奈人西門），把十字架擱在他身上。 

我們若順服神，別人所損失的，會比我們所損失的還多，這就是那為難的地方了。我們若愛主，順服他並覺得付上什麼代價，這原是可喜的；但那些不愛他的人，所受的損失就更大了。我們要是順服神，自然就會打岔其他人的計畫，他們就會冷嘲地說：[這就叫做基督教？ ]我們固然可以不使別人受損，但若要順服神，就萬不可如此；要付出的代價就讓它付出去吧！再次，人性的自尊就出來辯護了，我們說：[我決不從任何人接受任何東西！ ]我們不接受，就是悖逆神了。主在世上與人的關係如何，我們也得如何，我們決無權指望另謀出路（參閱路八2-3） 

我們若說，要自己承擔全部責任，那麼，靈命就會沉滯停頓，趑趄不前了。我們根本不可能如此。在神整個宇宙計畫中，人就是這樣座落其中，以致我們一順服神，其他人必然受影響。我們願否順服神而放棄獨立自主，甘心走上自卑的路？還是走另一條路，說：[我絕不叫別人無辜受苦]？我們可以選擇不順服神，使形勢緩和，可是我們卻叫主憂傷。另一方面，如果我們順服神，他必會照顧那些因我們順服而被逼受苦的人。我們只要一味順服，一切後果就交給神吧。

但要當心這個意念：你順服神，卻指定神照你的意思行事。這要當心！

祈禱◆在一切事情上，噢，主啊，我都承認你。保守我們與你保持和諧，以致別人可以捕捉到屬神的喜樂和愉快。