The Key to the Missionary’s Devotion

. . . they went forth for His name’s sake . . . —3 John 7

Our Lord told us how our love for Him is to exhibit itself when He asked, “Do you love Me?” (John 21:17). And then He said, “Feed My sheep.” In effect, He said, “Identify yourself with My interests in other people,” not, “Identify Me with your interests in other people.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 shows us the characteristics of this love— it is actually the love of God expressing itself. The true test of my love for Jesus is a very practical one, and all the rest is sentimental talk.

Faithfulness to Jesus Christ is the supernatural work of redemption that has been performed in me by the Holy Spirit— “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit . . .” (Romans 5:5). And it is that love in me that effectively works through me and comes in contact with everyone I meet. I remain faithful to His name, even though the commonsense view of my life may seemingly deny that, and may appear to be declaring that He has no more power than the morning mist.

The key to the missionary’s devotion is that he is attached to nothing and to no one except our Lord Himself. It does not mean simply being detached from the external things surrounding us. Our Lord was amazingly in touch with the ordinary things of life, but He had an inner detachment except toward God. External detachment is often an actual indication of a secret, growing, inner attachment to the things we stay away from externally.

The duty of a faithful missionary is to concentrate on keeping his soul completely and continually open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The men and women our Lord sends out on His endeavors are ordinary human people, but people who are controlled by their devotion to Him, which has been brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit.

---

傳道者忠貞的要決

因他們是為主的名(原文作“那名”)出外，對於外邦人一無所取。 （約翰三書7節）

主曾告訴我們，怎樣才是愛祂。 「你愛我嗎？（約翰福音21：15-17） 」「你餵養我的羊。（約翰福音21：15-17） 」——把你放在我對人的關懷裡，而不是把我放在你對人的興趣裡。哥林多前書13：4-8節 「愛是恆久忍耐，又有恩慈；愛是不嫉妒；愛是不自誇，不張狂，不作害羞的事，不求自己的益處，不輕易發怒，不計算人的惡，不喜歡不義，只喜歡真理；凡事包容，凡事相信，凡事盼望，凡事忍耐。愛是永不止息。 」 描述這愛的品質，是神自己的愛。我對主耶穌愛的考驗，是在實際事情上，其他的不過是空口的賣弄愛情。

我對主耶穌的忠心，是聖靈在我心裡做成超自然的救贖聖工，把神的愛澆灌在我心裡。這愛在我與人接觸時，就產生功效。雖然一切的常理都否定祂，說祂好像晨霧般虛渺，但我仍忠於祂的名。

傳道者忠貞的要決，就是單歸附主耶穌，不受任何人任何事的纏累，但又不是與外界隔絕。主不斷與外界事物接觸，祂的分別為聖，是在於內心朝向神。外表的隔絕，往往表示人裡面暗暗地戀慕著表面上拒絕的東西。

傳道者的忠貞，是要保持心靈單向主耶穌開敞。主所差派出去做工的人，均是平凡人，只是聖靈在他們裡面加上專一不移的忠貞。