The Place of Exaltation

. . . Jesus took . . . them up on a high mountain apart by themselves . . . —Mark 9:2

We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.

We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a terrible trap in always asking, “What’s the use of this experience?” We can never measure spiritual matters in that way. The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.

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超升的領域

耶穌帶著彼得、雅各、約翰，暗暗的上了高山……(可九2)

我們都有過山上的經歷－－從神的觀點看事物，於是就想留在那裡不再下來。可是，神絕不容許我們留在那裡。屬靈生命的考驗，是看你下山以後的能力。若只有上山才有能力，那就有點不對勁了。在神的山上，固然好極了，但上山的目的，是叫人以後下來到被魔鬼轄制的人中間，把他們向上推。我們不是為山峰、晨曦、美景而造，那些只是感性的時刻。我們乃是為山谷而造，為那日常平凡的事而造，為要考驗我們的能力。屬靈的自私總是盼望可以重演山上的經歷，以為只要留在山上，就可以說話生活如天使一般。其實，高峰的生活是例外的，在與神的相交忠，有它的作用；但必須當心，別讓屬靈的自私把高山的經歷，視作唯一去追求的東西。

我們常以為凡事都是為教導我們，但其實比教導更好的，就是使凡遭遇的變成我們的個性。山頂的經歷不是要教導我們，乃是要塑造我們。 [這事有什麼用處？ ]這樣問有很大的危險。屬靈的事不是這樣計算的。山頂上的經歷是罕有的，是神為特別的目的而設的。

祈禱◆主啊，我最渴望的，是在你裡面生根建造－－以神為中心，專注於神，熱心於神和愛神。我的靈魂何等渴望認識你，並且得著平靜。