Obedience or Independence?

If you love Me, keep My commandments —John 14:15

Our Lord never insists on obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit with Him. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an “If,” meaning, “You do not need to do this unless you desire to do so.” “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . .” (Luke 9:23). In other words, “To be My disciple, let him give up his right to himself to Me.” Our Lord is not talking about our eternal position, but about our being of value to Him in this life here and now. That is why He sounds so stern (see Luke 14:26). Never try to make sense from these words by separating them from the One who spoke them.

The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself. Jesus Christ will not force me to obey Him, but I must. And as soon as I obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings, altogether insignificant. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. Then, when I stand face to face with God, I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed. When God’s redemption brings a human soul to the point of obedience, it always produces. If I obey Jesus Christ, the redemption of God will flow through me to the lives of others, because behind the deed of obedience is the reality of Almighty God.

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權柄與自主

你們若愛我，就必遵守我的命令。 （約十四15）

我們的主從不堅持要人順服他；他雖然強調什麽是當行的，卻從不運用手段強逼我們去行。我們順服他必須出於靈裡的合一。因此，主談到作門徒時，總加上[若]字- 你要是不想，可以不做。 [若有人要跟從我，就當捨己。 ]你要放棄自己的主權，把它交給主。主並不是論及永世的地位，他乃是說在現今的景況中，怎樣才可以成為他合用的器皿。正因如此，主的話聽來是這樣嚴厲（比較路十四26）。千萬不要撇下說這話的那一位主，去解釋經文。

主並沒有給我什麽規條，他把標准說得很清楚；我若是愛他，會毫不猶豫去遵行他的話。若我猶豫不行，就表明我另有所愛，而這一位與他爭競的，就是我自己。主耶穌不會推我順服他，我必須自己順服。一順服，我就成就了在屬靈領域中神所定命的。個人生命中也許充塞了無數瑣事，根本無人留意的；可是若在這等無常的際遇中順服主，這些事就成為我見神面的洞口。

當我與神面對面，會發現千萬人因我的順服而蒙福。人的心一旦順服，神的救贖就必然產生創造力。我若順服基督，神的救贖就會透過我湧流倒別的生命上，因為在順服的行動背後，是全能神的實體。

祈禱◆噢，主啊，願你探測我靈裡最深藏的動機- 聖靈就在此處為我們代求，並且看出我們未能表達的禱文。