Do It Yourself (2)

. . . bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ . . . —2 Corinthians 10:5

Determinedly Discipline Other Things. This is another difficult aspect of the strenuous nature of sainthood. Paul said, according to the Moffatt translation of this verse, “. . . I take every project prisoner to make it obey Christ . . . .” So much Christian work today has never been disciplined, but has simply come into being by impulse! In our Lord’s life every project was disciplined to the will of His Father. There was never the slightest tendency to follow the impulse of His own will as distinct from His Father’s will— “the Son can do nothing of Himself . . . ” (John 5:19). Then compare this with what we do— we take “every thought” or project that comes to us by impulse and jump into action immediately, instead of imprisoning and disciplining ourselves to obey Christ.

Practical work for Christians is greatly overemphasized today, and the saints who are “bringing every thought [and project] into captivity” are criticized and told that they are not determined, and that they lack zeal for God or zeal for the souls of others. But true determination and zeal are found in obeying God, not in the inclination to serve Him that arises from our own undisciplined human nature. It is inconceivable, but true nevertheless, that saints are not “bringing every thought [and project] into captivity,” but are simply doing work for God that has been instigated by their own human nature, and has not been made spiritual through determined discipline.

We have a tendency to forget that a person is not only committed to Jesus Christ for salvation, but is also committed, responsible, and accountable to Jesus Christ’s view of God, the world, and of sin and the devil. This means that each person must recognize the responsibility to “be transformed by the renewing of [his] mind. . . .” (Romans 12:2).

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自己做

又將人所有的心意奪回，使他都順服基督。 （林後十5）

這是信徒成聖須竭盡心力的另一面。保羅說：[我將所有計劃都封鎖，使它們都歸服於基督。 ]（摩法特譯本）今天多少基督徒的事工是沒有紀律，只出於一時衝動的！主每一件事都律己，遵照父的旨意。他沒有一絲行動，是脫離父的旨意，出於私意的衝動－－[子憑自己不能作什麼。 ]

再看看我們自己－－有活現的宗教經歷，就立刻衝動地把計劃付諸行動，而不是把它約束在對基督的順服裡。這時代太強調實際工作，以致那些為主把計劃俘擄的人，被批評為不熱心為神，也不愛靈魂。真心的熱誠，在於順服神，而不在於人性、不受約束的事奉熱誠。聖徒還未把每一計劃俘擄，就按本性－－未經定志律己而來的屬靈性情－－慫動去作神的工作，這雖是不可思議，卻確有其事。

我們很容易會忘記人不單要在救恩上歸服基督，也要歸服於基督對神、對世界、對罪、對魔鬼的觀點。這就是說，他必須藉心意的更新而改變。

祈禱◆主啊，我來到你面前。求你將你的生命豐盛地賜給我，直至我的理解力、想像力和言語，都全屬於你。你更新了我的靈，使我重獲救恩之樂，你是何等偉大！