7月2日 作门徒的条件

人到我这里来，若不爱我胜过……就不能作我的门徒。（路十四26、27、33）

耶稣基督说人生中最亲密的关系，若与他的要求相冲突的话，就必须立刻选择顺服他。作门徒的意思，就是把自己诚意地奉献给一位——我们的主耶稣基督。对一个有位格的主奉献，与对一个原则或运动献身，并不相同。我们的主从没有宣告一项运动，他宣告的乃是叫人对他个别的献身。作门徒就是做主忠诚的爱奴。我们这些自称基督徒的人，许多根本就不专心爱主。除非圣灵把爱浇灌给人，否则世上没有一个人懂得热诚爱主。我们也许会仰慕他、尊敬他，但却不会爱他。唯一爱耶稣的就是圣灵，是他把神的爱倾泻入我们心中。圣灵一见有荣耀耶穌耶稣的机会，就会占有你的心、你整个的人，使你在主耶稣的热爱中燃烧发光。

基督徒的生命，都盖上了“自然的道德创造力”的印记，所以门徒像主耶稣一样被人指责为：矛盾不一。其实，主耶稣时刻对神都是如一。信徒也该对神的儿子始终如一，而不是在死硬的教条上持守。人把自己倾进教条里去，神却要把人的偏见炸毁，叫他们懂得专心爱他。

祈祷◆我何等需要看见你那威严、大能和荣耀的作为！我们所有人都只需要你的触摸，使一切事物都变成崭新而奇妙，并且抗衡任何不属于你的影响和标准。愿你的同在使我们得以洁净和满有能力。

July 2 The Conditions Of Discipleship

“If any man come to Me, and hate not . . . he cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:26, also 27, 33

If the closest relationships of life clash with the claims of Jesus Christ, He says it must be instant obedience to Himself. Discipleship means personal, passionate devotion to a Person, Our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a difference between devotion to a Person and devotion to principles or to a cause. Our Lord never proclaimed a cause; He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself. To be a disciple is to be a devoted love-slave of the Lord Jesus. Many of us who call ourselves Christians are not devoted to Jesus Christ. No man on earth has this passionate love to the Lord Jesus unless the Holy Ghost has imparted it to him. We may admire Him, we may respect Him and reverence Him, but we cannot love Him. The only Lover of the Lord Jesus is the Holy Ghost, and He sheds abroad the very love of God in our hearts. Whenever the Holy Ghost sees a chance of glorifying Jesus, He will take your heart, your nerves, your whole personality, and simply make you blaze and glow with devotion to Jesus Christ.

The Christian life is stamped by 'moral spontaneous originality', consequently the disciple is open to the same charge that Jesus Christ was, viz., that of inconsistency. But Jesus Christ was always consistent to God, and the Christian must be consistent to the life of the Son of God in him, not consistent to hard and fast creeds. Men pour them selves into creeds, and God has to blast them out of their prejudices before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ.