The Divine Commandment of Life

. . . be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect —Matthew 5:48

Our Lord’s exhortation to us in Matthew 5:38-48 is to be generous in our behavior toward everyone. Beware of living according to your natural affections in your spiritual life. Everyone has natural affections— some people we like and others we don’t like. Yet we must never let those likes and dislikes rule our Christian life. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7), even those toward whom we have no affection.

The example our Lord gave us here is not that of a good person, or even of a good Christian, but of God Himself. “. . . be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In other words, simply show to the other person what God has shown to you. And God will give you plenty of real life opportunities to prove whether or not you are “perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s interests in other people. Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

The true expression of Christian character is not in good-doing, but in God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit divine characteristics in your life, not just good human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as God’s life, not as human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian’s life is that the supernatural becomes natural in him as a result of the grace of God, and the experience of this becomes evident in the practical, everyday details of life, not in times of intimate fellowship with God. And when we come in contact with things that create confusion and a flurry of activity, we find to our own amazement that we have the power to stay wonderfully poised even in the center of it all.

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生命的神聖定律

所以你們要完全，像你們的天父完全一樣。 （太五48）

在這經文中，主勸勉我們對所有人都要寬大慷慨。在屬靈的生活中。當心依從人性的喜好行事。人人都有天然的喜好，我們喜歡某些人，不喜歡某些人。切勿讓這些喜好操縱我們基督徒的生命。 [我們若在光明中行，如同神在光中]，神可以使我們與天性不喜歡的人相交。

主給我們的榜樣不是一個好人，也不是一個好的基督徒，乃是神自己。 [所以你們要完全，像你們的天父完全一樣。 ]－－向人表彰神向你表彰的；神在實際生活上會給我們足夠的機會，去證明我們是否像他一樣完全。作門徒，就是立志要愛神所關注的人。 [叫你們彼此相愛，我怎樣愛你們，你們也要怎樣相愛。 ]

信徒品德的表現不在於善行，乃在於像神。若神的靈已改變你的內心，你生命所表現的是屬天的特性，而不是好人的特性。神的生命在我們裡面，表現的就是神的生命，不是力求敬虔的人的生命。信徒的秘訣，就是藉神的恩典，使超然的在他裡面成為自然，這種經歷並非在與神相交的時刻中表現，而是在日常生活的細節中實行。當我們碰到叫人頭昏腦脹的事，便會稀奇自己竟有能力保持平靜安穩。

祈禱◆噢，主啊，當今天這個屬你的日子正要展開，願你在一切事情上，成為我們獨特的珍寶。願你的靈充滿我們，以致我們各人都被那甜蜜、愜意的屬靈能力所改變。