The “Go” of Relationship

Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two—Matthew 5:41

Our Lord’s teaching can be summed up in this: the relationship that He demands for us is an impossible one unless He has done a super-natural work in us. Jesus Christ demands that His disciple does not allow even the slightest trace of resentment in his heart when faced with tyranny and injustice. No amount of enthusiasm will ever stand up to the strain that Jesus Christ will put upon His servant. Only one thing will bear the strain, and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Himself— a relationship that has been examined, purified, and tested until only one purpose remains and I can truly say, “I am here for God to send me where He will.” Everything else may become blurred, but this relationship with Jesus Christ must never be.

The Sermon on the Mount is not some unattainable goal; it is a statement of what will happen in me when Jesus Christ has changed my nature by putting His own nature in me. Jesus Christ is the only One who can fulfill the Sermon on the Mount.

If we are to be disciples of Jesus, we must be made disciples supernaturally. And as long as we consciously maintain the determined purpose to be His disciples, we can be sure that we are not disciples. Jesus says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you. . .” (John 15:16). That is the way the grace of God begins. It is a constraint we can never escape; we can disobey it, but we can never start it or produce it ourselves. We are drawn to God by a work of His supernatural grace, and we can never trace back to find where the work began. Our Lord’s making of a disciple is supernatural. He does not build on any natural capacity of ours at all. God does not ask us to do the things that are naturally easy for us— He only asks us to do the things that we are perfectly fit to do through His grace, and that is where the cross we must bear will always come.

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[去]的關係

有人強逼你走一里路，你就同他走二里。 （太五41）

除非主在我們身上行超然的工作，否則他所要求的那種是不可能的。主耶穌要求門徒在遇到暴虐不平時，不可有絲毫的怨恨，即使藏在內心也不可。無論怎樣的熱誠，也受不住主耶穌加在工人身上的考驗。只有一件事可以，就是與他有密切的關係，經歷過他潔淨的磨坊，以致只有一個心志留存－－[我在此任神差派往何方。 ]別的東西都可以消失，但與主的關係絕對不可。

登山寶訓不是一套理想。它說明了我內心要發生的事：就是當主改變我，把他自己的性情放在我裡面時所要成就的光景。只有耶穌基督才能達成登山寶訓。我們若要做主的門徒，就必須循超然的途徑；若死持作門徒的存心，就必不能作門徒。 [我揀選了你們。 ]這是神恩典的開始。這個催迫是我們無法逃避的，我們可以不聽命，但我們斷不能產生這個催迫。神超然的恩典是圖畫的主筆，我們無法追溯他工作的起源。他塑造門徒的工作是超然的，並不建基於天然的力量。神不會叫我們做人力容易達成的事，他只叫我們做那些憑恩典才能應付裕如的事，而十字架往往就循這個途徑而來。

祈禱◆噢，主啊，為著那環繞我，是我猶如在天堂的聖徒祈禱，我讚美你。為著那透過你的救贖而臨到我的無言恩典，我稱頌你。