Winning into Freedom

If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed —John 8:36

If there is even a trace of individual self-satisfaction left in us, it always says, “I can’t surrender,” or “I can’t be free.” But the spiritual part of our being never says “I can’t”; it simply soaks up everything around it. Our spirit hungers for more and more. It is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin, our own individuality, and wrong thinking keep us from getting to Him. God delivers us from sin— we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality. This means offering our natural life to God and sacrificing it to Him, so He may transform it into spiritual life through our obedience.

God pays no attention to our natural individuality in the development of our spiritual life. His plan runs right through our natural life. We must see to it that we aid and assist God, and not stand against Him by saying, “I can’t do that.” God will not discipline us; we must discipline ourselves. God will not bring our “arguments . . . and every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5)— we have to do it. Don’t say, “Oh, Lord, I suffer from wandering thoughts.” Don’t suffer from wandering thoughts. Stop listening to the tyranny of your individual natural life and win freedom into the spiritual life.

“If the Son makes you free . . . .” Do not substitute Savior for Son in this passage. The Savior has set us free from sin, but this is the freedom that comes from being set free from myself by the Son. It is what Paul meant in Galatians 2:20 when he said, “I have been crucified with Christ . . . .” His individuality had been broken and his spirit had been united with his Lord; not just merged into Him, but made one with Him. “. . . you shall be free indeed”— free to the very core of your being; free from the inside to the outside. We tend to rely on our own energy, instead of being energized by the power that comes from identification with Jesus.

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邁進自由

天父的兒子若叫你們自由，你們就真自由了。 （約八36）

人若還存在留任何的自負，總是說：[我辦不到。 ]但[人格]永不說[辦不到]，它會不斷吸取。 [人格]總是渴求得到更多，因為我們是被造成這樣的。我們被造，對神有極大的渴求；阻隔我們近神的，是罪和我們的[個性]。神救我們脫離罪；我們卻要救自己脫離個性，就是要天然的生命作活祭獻給神，直至因順服而改變成屬靈的生命。

在屬靈生命的過程中，神不會理會我們天然的個性，他的命令會直闖我們天然的生命。我們要協助神，而不要阻擋他說：[我辦不到。 ]神不會操練我們，我們要操練自己。神不會管制我們每一個念頭與幻想，這工作我們要自己做。不要說：[主啊，我思想時常浮游，好苦！ ]那就不要再浮游，不要再受個性的操縱，乃要釋放出來，活出真正的個性。

[天父的兒子若叫你們自由……]不要用[救主]代替[兒子]，救主救我們離罪；這個自由卻是從[兒子]而來的。保羅在加拉太書二章20節正是這意思：[我已經與基督同釘十字架]，他天然的[個性]已破碎了，他的人格與主合一，不是混合，乃是合一。 [你們就真自由了]，自由的本質是內裡的自由。我們堅持的是主動，而不是被動的推向與主耶穌認同。

祈禱◆主啊，我何等需要你和渴慕你。求你完完全全地回到我裡面，將你的生命注滿我們的意念和心靈，直至滿溢，願榮耀歸於你的名。