Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good . . . —1 Peter 4:19
Choosing to suffer means that there must be something wrong with you, but choosing God’s will— even if it means you will suffer— is something very different. No normal, healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he simply chooses God’s will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. And no saint should ever dare to interfere with the lesson of suffering being taught in another saint’s life.
The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. But the people used to strengthen us are never those who sympathize with us; in fact, we are hindered by those who give us their sympathy, because sympathy only serves to weaken us. No one better understands a saint than the saint who is as close and as intimate with Jesus as possible. If we accept the sympathy of another saint, our spontaneous feeling is, “God is dealing too harshly with me and making my life too difficult.” That is why Jesus said that self-pity was of the devil (see Matthew 16:21-23). We must be merciful to God’s reputation. It is easy for us to tarnish God’s character because He never argues back; He never tries to defend or vindicate Himself. Beware of thinking that Jesus needed sympathy during His life on earth. He refused the sympathy of people because in His great wisdom He knew that no one on earth understood His purpose (see Matthew 16:23). He accepted only the sympathy of His Father and the angels (see Luke 15:10).
Look at God’s incredible waste of His saints, according to the world’s judgment. God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places. And then we say, “God intends for me to be here because I am so useful to Him.” Yet Jesus never measured His life by how or where He was of the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be.
聖徒的分別為聖
所以那照神旨意受苦的人，要一心為善，將自己靈魂交與那信實的造化之主。 （彼前四19）
故意選擇受苦是不妥當的；但若是為了神的旨意而甘心受苦，就完全不同了。正常的聖徒不會選擇受苦；像主耶穌一樣，他的選擇是為了神的旨意，不管這是否需要受苦。沒有聖徒能干預別的聖徒在受苦上的操練。
一個滿足主心意的聖徒，能使別的聖徒靠神堅強、成熟起來。能幫助我們的，並非那些一味同情的我們的人。他們會成為阻礙，因為同情可能叫人軟弱。醉明白聖徒的，就是最靠近主心懷的聖徒。我們若接受別人的同情，反應就是－－[神對我實在太苛刻了。 ]所以主耶穌說自憐出於魔鬼（太十六23）。他從不反駁，也從不維護自己。
不要以為主耶穌在世時需要人的同情；他從不接受人的同情，是因為深知地上沒有人真明白他的使命。他只接受天父及天使的同情（比較路十五10）。按世人的眼光來看，神把聖徒放在最無出色的角落去，實在是極大的浪費。我們會說：[神放我在這裡，因為我非常有用。 ]耶穌卻從不這樣衡量自己的生命。其實神是把聖徒放在能榮耀他的地方，我們是無權選擇到底那是甚麼地方。
祈禱◆主啊，我完全仰賴你；在你出現之前，我若有[迷失]的感覺，相信對我是好的.
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