神却曾应许 生活有力
行路有光亮 作工得息
试炼得恩勖 危难有赖
无限的体谅 不死的爱
许多时候羡慕要休假的人。能够从烦躁甚至错乱的压力中抽离出来。能够享受一丝恬静与安息。
基督徒都是软弱的普通人,再“追求”的属灵人也得面对自己最真实的软弱,时刻回到神同在的安息之中。
昨天读到NIV圣经注释的一段话。联系到工作与休假。
希望姐妹假期愉快。
. Early in my teaching ministry, I read and benefited from a little book by the nineteenth-century novelist George MacDonald entitled The Curate’s Awakening.17 The story illustrates in a graphic manner the lesson of this text: Appearances can be deceiving, especially regarding spiritual reality. Matters of the heart—the most important issues with which we deal—are often obscured because of physical impressions. MacDonald describes a young Anglican curate settling into his first parish.18 Like so many ministers of our day, the young Thomas Wingfold had chosen the ministry merely as a profession. While he was still trying to find his way in his new assignment, he met a skeptic in the community who shook his confidence with one little question about the Christian gospel he had been teaching: “Tell me honestly, do you really believe one word of all that?” Realizing he had nothing to answer, Wingfold begins to face genuinely the fact that he does not know what he believes. Through much soul-searching and agony, he considers finishing out his year with the congregation and then leaving the ministry. But before this happens, he experiences another crisis. Wingfold’s shallowness and spiritual malaise lead him to plagiarize his sermons. One day he receives a letter from a parishioner who has recognized one of his sermons as that of another clergyman, and the letter exposes him to potential shame. Wingfold writes back, acknowledging the truth and asking to meet the man in order to confess and ask for help. The astute parishioner turns out to be a certain Joseph Polwarth, a tragically deformed dwarf whose ghastly appearance draws mostly pity from the community and even disdain from a few. But as Wingfold gradually comes to know his unfortunate-looking new friend, he discovers that in reality he is a giant of faith. Polwarth has insight and wisdom that comes only from years of reading Scripture and loving God. His conversations with Polwarth astound the young curate and cause Wingfold to consider the bankruptcy of his own soul. Eventually he comes to envy Polwarth instead of pitying him. Early in their relationship, the two men share their stories in complete honesty. Mr. Polwarth narrates his painful childhood, of his being sent away to boarding school because he was an embarrassment to his family, and of the ways he learned to cope with the derision and jokes of the other children. As an adult he learned to deal with his deformities and get on with his life. But he remained dissatisfied with himself. Through a series of painful experiences, Polwarth confesses that he discovered his heart was filled with envy, vindictiveness, and conceit. He concludes: “I began to be aware that, heavy affliction as it was to be made so different from others, my outward deformity was but a picture of my inward condition.”19 That summer, Polwarth committed himself to a thoughtful reading of the New Testament, through which he became acquainted with the man Jesus. By contrast, Wingfold confesses his miserable condition to his new friend:I was brought up for the church. I passed all my examinations with decency, distinguishing myself in nothing. I went before the bishop and became a deacon, after a year was ordained, and after another year or two of false preaching and parish work, suddenly found myself curate in charge of this grand old abbey church.20 The young clergyman confides that Christianity seems useless to him and he is utterly without direction, though he finds himself now pastoring this good little flock. In complete despair, he commits himself to meeting with Mr. Polwarth regularly for the purpose of reading and studying together. As the novel unfolds, the handsome young minister comes to respect and appreciate Joseph Polwarth more than anyone he has ever known. With his help, Wingfold moves from faith in an idea of God to faith in the living God.21 This fascinating novel illustrates the fundamental principle of our text: The truth about a person is a matter of the heart and not the eyes. The community in which Wingfold and Polwarth live accept the new minister as a spiritual leader with considerable commitment to Christian truth. But they continue to pity the misshapen dwarf as someone who should live alone quietly because he has so little to offer the world. How little they knew!
(撒母耳记上十六章前半段注释) |