. . . separated to the gospel of God. . . —Romans 1:1
Our calling is not primarily to be holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the gospel of God. The one all-important thing is that the gospel of God should be recognized as the abiding reality. Reality is not human goodness, or holiness, or heaven, or hell— it is redemption. The need to perceive this is the most vital need of the Christian worker today. As workers, we have to get used to the revelation that redemption is the only reality. Personal holiness is an effect of redemption, not the cause of it. If we place our faith in human goodness we will go under when testing comes.
Paul did not say that he separated himself, but “when it pleased God, who separated me . . .” (Galatians 1:15). Paul was not overly interested in his own character. And as long as our eyes are focused on our own personal holiness, we will never even get close to the full reality of redemption. Christian workers fail because they place their desire for their own holiness above their desire to know God. “Don’t ask me to be confronted with the strong reality of redemption on behalf of the filth of human life surrounding me today; what I want is anything God can do for me to make me more desirable in my own eyes.” To talk that way is a sign that the reality of the gospel of God has not begun to touch me. There is no reckless abandon to God in that. God cannot deliver me while my interest is merely in my own character. Paul was not conscious of himself. He was recklessly abandoned, totally surrendered, and separated by God for one purpose— to proclaim the gospel of God (see Romans 9:3).
你看清你的呼召沒有？
特派傳神的福音（特派有分別出來之意）。 （羅一1）
基本上來說，神呼召我們並不是叫我們做聖潔的人，乃是要我們宣揚他的福音。因為其中最要緊的，就是神的福音有永存的價值。聖潔，固然不是永存的，只有救贖才是永恆。今日基督的工人最要瞭解的，就是這個。作為工人，我們必須熟悉這個啟示，就是救贖是唯一的永存價值。個人的聖潔只是果，不是因。如果我們把信心寄託於人的良善上，以救恩為果，試煉一來，我們就站立不住了。
保羅並沒有說他分別自己，他乃說:[神既喜悅將我分別出來……。 ]保羅對自己的性情，並沒有過分的注意。我們的眼睛一天放在自己的成聖上，一天就不能進入救贖的實際裡去。許多工人一敗塗地，就是因為他們的願望只為自己的聖潔，而不是為神。 [由於人性是墮落於污穢的，請不要叫我們對救贖崎嶇的現實吧！我要的，是神為我做點什麼，叫我更欣賞自己。 ]說這樣的話，表明神福音的實際尚未摸著我，我還未完全獻身，向神降服。保羅能夠忘我，毫無顧慮敵撇棄一切，被神分別出來，為的只是一個目標——傳揚神的福音（參羅九3）
祈禱◆噢，主啊，對於你的救贖和全備的救恩，我的欣賞是何其吝嗇。主啊，驅使我產生更豐富的感恩；讓我永遠深愛主耶穌基督。
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