The Delight Of Sacrifice

I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls . . . —2 Corinthians 12:15

Once “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” we deliberately begin to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ’s interests and purposes in others’ lives (Romans 5:5). And Jesus has an interest in every individual person. We have no right in Christian service to be guided by our own interests and desires. In fact, this is one of the greatest tests of our relationship with Jesus Christ. The delight of sacrifice is that I lay down my life for my Friend, Jesus (see John 15:13). I don’t throw my life away, but I willingly and deliberately lay it down for Him and His interests in other people. And I do this for no cause or purpose of my own. Paul spent his life for only one purpose— that he might win people to Jesus Christ. Paul always attracted people to his Lord, but never to himself. He said, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).

When someone thinks that to develop a holy life he must always be alone with God, he is no longer of any use to others. This is like putting himself on a pedestal and isolating himself from the rest of society. Paul was a holy person, but wherever he went Jesus Christ was always allowed to help Himself to his life. Many of us are interested only in our own goals, and Jesus cannot help Himself to our lives. But if we are totally surrendered to Him, we have no goals of our own to serve. Paul said that he knew how to be a “doormat” without resenting it, because the motivation of his life was devotion to Jesus. We tend to be devoted, not to Jesus Christ, but to the things which allow us more spiritual freedom than total surrender to Him would allow. Freedom was not Paul’s motive at all. In fact, he stated, “I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren . . .” (Romans 9:3). Had Paul lost his ability to reason? Not at all! For someone who is in love, this is not an overstatement. And Paul was in love with Jesus Christ.

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犧牲的快樂

我也甘心樂意為你們的靈魂費財費力。 （林後十二15）

聖靈一旦將神的愛澆灌在我們心裡，我們就立即與耶穌基督一樣關懷別人。耶穌基督對任何一種人都有愛心。在事奉的工作上，我們不能以自己的嗜好為指導；這是我們與主的關係中，最大的考驗。犧牲的快樂，在於我為[朋友]捨命，這並不是隨手丟出，而是經過深思熟慮後，為他和對人的愛心，甘願把生命捨去。這也不是為 了別的什麼使命。保羅只為一個目的而把自己耗盡——為主得人。他時刻被主吸引，而不體貼自己。 [向什麼樣的人，我就作什麼樣的人。無論如何，總要救些人。 ]人若說他要向神建立聖潔的生命，那對人就絲毫無益了；他不過把自己安置在臺階上，與人群脫節。保羅成了一個祭牲，他所到之處，主耶穌都使用他，作為神的旨意。我們不少人只追求自己的目標，以致主無法隨意使用我們。若我們真的委身於耶穌，就該沒有自己的目標了。保羅說他曉得怎樣作一塊門前的地毯而心無惱怒，因為他的生命已全屬於耶穌了。我們很容易轉移目標，不歸屬基督，而專注於那些叫我們靈性得釋放的事物。保羅的動機不是這樣：[為我弟兄，我骨肉之親， 就是自己被詛咒，與基督分離，我也願意。 ]——太狂放，太誇大了，是嗎？人在愛情裡這樣說話，並不是誇大，乃是愛上了基督，如保羅一樣。

祈禱◆噢，主啊，求你今天保守我們，讓我們完全不需要想到自己，只是喜樂地與你一起。