Test of Faithfulness

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . . —Romans 8:28

It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith— the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.

Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.

The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.

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忠心的考驗

我們曉得萬事都互相效力，叫愛神的人得益處。 （羅八28）

只有忠心耿耿的人，才相信神安排環境。我們往往過於隨便，不相信自己的境遇是神所安排；口頭上雖然說相信，但當事情發生，往往視作人的作為。在任何情況下忠心，是指只有一個忠心的對象，就是我們的主。神若忽然改變某一個環境，​​我們就發現自己的不忠，因為沒有看出這是出於神。我們根本看不出他的用意，而那件事我們的一生中也不會再重演。忠心的考驗都是在那刻臨到的。我們若學會在苦痛的環境中敬拜他，神願意的話，可以在兩秒鐘內把環境扭轉。

向耶穌基督效忠，是我們今日抗拒的事。我們可以忠於工作、事奉、或任何事情，但別叫我們效忠耶穌基督。不少信徒對效忠基督感到不耐煩。信主的人把主從寶座上推下來，比世界的人更甚。神成為一幅祝福人的機器，耶穌基督成為工人中的工人。重點不是在我們為神工作，而是在我們完全效忠，以致他能透過我作工－－[我寄望於你的，是要你全力事奉，不發怨言，不求解釋。 ]神要用我們，像他用他兒子一樣。

祈禱◆噢，主啊，願你今天的臉光光照我們，使我們都以極大的甜蜜和自由來配合你的計劃，並且活潑輕快地與你一起走過。