Impulsiveness or Discipleship?

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith . . . —Jude 20

There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman—an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.

Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises—human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God—but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people—and this is not learned in five minutes.

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被沖動引導

"你們卻要在至聖的真道上造就自己" 猶20

我們的主既沒有衝動的本性，也不是冷血無情，他有一種鎮定的力量永遠不會陷入恐慌。我們大多數人是按著自己性情的方式來過基督徒的生活，而不是按著神的方式。衝動是天然生命的特性，但我們的主卻總是不顧它，因為衝動會阻礙門徒生命的成長。留意神的靈如何阻止我們的衝動，他的阻止帶來一種自覺愚蠢倉促，使我們立刻想要為自己辯護。對於一個孩子，衝動還可以接受，但對於一個大人，衝動就是災難性的了。一個衝動的人常是一個耍小孩子脾氣的人。衝動必須要藉著管教訓練成為直覺。

作門徒完全建造在神超自然的恩典上。行走在水面對於憑著一股衝動的勇氣是容易的，但行走在乾地上作耶穌基督的門徒卻是一件不同的事情。彼得在水面上向耶穌走去，但在地上卻遠遠地跟著他。我們不需要神的恩典去面對危機，人的本性和驕傲已經足夠了。我們可以高貴地面對壓力，但每天二十四小時活出聖徒的生活，像一個門徒一樣經受勞苦，過一個平凡、沒人留意、被人忽視的生活，就一定需要神超自然的恩典。我們的天性想要為神做一件特別的事，但不需要這樣。我們應當在平凡事上成為不平凡，在簡陋的街道中,在卑劣的人群中成為聖潔，這不是五分鐘學得會的功課。