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August 26
"It is not in me." (Job 28:14.)
ＩREMEMBER a summer in which I said, "It is the ocean I need," and I went to the ocean; but it seemed to say, "It is not in me!" The ocean did not do for me what I thought it would. Then I said, "The mountains will rest me," and I went to the mountains, and when I awoke in the morning there stood the grand mountain that I had wanted so much to see; but it said, "It is not in me!" It did not satisfy. Ah! I needed athe ocean of His love, and the high mountains of His truth within. It was wisdom that the "depths" said they did not contain, and that could not be compared with jewels or gold or precious stones. Christ is wisdom and our deepest need. Our restlessness within can only be met by the revelation of His eternal friendship and love for us.
─Margaret Bottome.
"My heart is there!
Where. on eternal hills, my loved one dwells
Among the lilies and asphodels;
Clad in the brightness of the Great White Throne.
Glad in the smile of Him who sits thereon,
The glory gilding all His wealth of hair
And making His immortal face more fair─
THERE IS MY TREASURE and my heart is there.
"My heart is there!
With Him who made all earthly life so sweet,
So fit to live, and yet to die so meet;
So mild, so grand, so gentle and so brave,
So ready to forgive, so strong to save.
His fair, pure Spirit makes the Heavens more fair,
And thither rises all my longing prayer─
THERE IS MY TREASURE and my heart is there."
─Favorite poem of the late Chas. E. Cowman.
You cannot detain the eagle in the forest. You may gather around him a chorus of the choicest bird; you may give him a perch on the goodiest pine; you may charge winged messengers to bring him choicest dainties; but he will spurn them all. Spreading his lofty wings, and with his eye on the Alpine cliff, he will soar away to his own ancestral halls amid the munition of rocks and the wild music of tempest and waterful.
The soul of man, in its eagle soarings, will rest with nothing short of the rock of Ages. Its ancestral halls are the halls of Heaven. Its munitions of rocks are the attributes of God. The sweep of its majestic flight is Eternity! "Lord, THOU hast been our dwelling place in all generations."
─Macduff.
"My Home is God Himself"; Christ brought me there.
I laid me down within His mighty arms;
He took me up, and safe from all alarms,
He bore me "where no foot but His hath trod,"
Within the holiest at Hame with God,
And bade me dewell in Him, rejoicing there.
O Holy Place! O Home divinely fair! nd we, God's little onces, abiding there.
"My Home is God Himself"; it was not so!
A long, long road I traveled night and day,
And sought to find within myself some way,
Aught I could do, or feel to bring me near;
Self effort failed, and I was filled with fear,
And then I found Christ was the only way,
That I must come to Him and in Him stay,
And God had told me so.
And now "my Home is God," and sheltered there,
God meets the trials of my earthly life,
God compasses me round from storm and strife,
God takes the burden of my daily care.
O Wonderous Place! O Home divinely fair!
And I, God's little one, safe hidden there.
Lord, as I dwell in Thee and Thou in me,
So make me dead to everything but Thee;
That as I rest within my Home most fair,
My soul may evermore and only see
My God in everything and everywhere;
My Home is God.
─Auathor Unknown.
「存心忍耐，奔那擺在我們前頭的路程，仰望為我們信心創始成終的耶穌，祂因擺在前面的喜樂，就輕看羞辱，忍受了十字架的苦難。」希伯來書十二章1、2節
參加賽跑的人，其眼和心必定要注視目標和獎品；而這裏指基督徒要熱心傚法耶穌，忍受十字架的苦楚。我們整個生命為祂接受十字架的犧牲所激勵，這是使祂從神得到榮耀的途徑；這是以身體裂開幔子為我們開一條又新又活的道路。因著背十字架，神將祂升到至高，這是我們熱切要學習的；我們要跟隨祂的腳蹤，將肉體定罪而治死於十字架上。
教會所以軟弱，最大的原因是沒有傳講或實行耶穌背十字架的心志。很多基督徒認為只要不犯罪，他們就能盡情享受屬世的福樂；他們沒有深切去洞察有關世俗的真理。肉體因愛世界抵擋神，很多基督徒經年累月尋求並禱告，傚法耶穌的形像也就因此完全的失敗；他們並不知道，也不全心尋求去知道治死老我和世界。
基督因擺在前面的喜樂就忍受十字架的苦──從父神得喜悅和尊榮的喜樂，再加上靈魂歸向祂的喜樂，我實在需要重新有熱忱的宣佈那神的旨意，也可說基督最喜悅的是：祂的子民從父神接受聖靈的充滿，忍受十字架的苦楚；也唯有在十字架與祂交通，才能成為神兒子的形像。當信徒明瞭這個有福的真理，轉臉仰望釘十字架的耶穌，他們就會接受由十字架產生領人歸向基督的能力。
「我留下平安給你們，我將我的平安賜給你們。」約翰福音十四章27節
有時我的平安是以無知為基礎，並不是真的平安，但於我們為生活的事實而喚醒時，這種平安就沒有了。不從耶穌有所領受，則內心的平安是不可能的。當我們的主說你們平安，就有平安來到，祂的話是「靈與生命」。我曾接受耶穌所說的話麼？「我將我的平安賜給你們」──這是一種由仰望祂，感覺祂安靜不擾而來的平安。
你現在正在擾亂不安麼？神命定的波浪，變成你信仰的大石，你仍然尋不著平安，快樂，或慰藉的井；一切都是徒勞的麼？那麼，仰望領受主耶穌的寧靜吧！反映的平安，是證明你與神有正當的關係，因為你能自自由由將你的心趨向祂。如果你與神沒有正當的關係，你的心除了趨向你自己以外絕不能趨向別的地方。如果你許甚麼事使你看不見耶穌基督，你不是煩亂不安，便是假的安靜。
你現在仰望耶穌，在緊迫的事上領受祂的平安麼？如果如此，祂就祝福你。但如果你想從煩悶中得到平安，那便是消滅了祂，是必然得不著平安的。我們煩亂不安，是因為我們沒有顧念祂。人以困難與耶穌基督商量，困難就解除了，因為祂沒有困難，我們應當罣慮的就是住在祂的裡面。在祂面前陳明一切，無論是困難，是喪失，是憂愁，必要聽見祂說──「你們心裡不要憂愁」。
「……婢女家中除了一瓶油之外，沒有甚麼。」列王記下四章2節
以利沙問一個寡婦：「你家裡有什麼？」她說：「除了一瓶油之外，沒有甚麼。」然而只要她懂得如何運用這瓶油，這瓶油就能供給她一切的需要。這個故事讓我們學到，如果我們瞭解如何從聖靈那裡得著所需的一切，祂必能滿足我們的需要。
那位寡婦只需要把空瓶子都拿出來，神就能使每個瓶子都裝滿。可見得那位寡婦所得之油的多少，乃在於她有多少個空瓶子。聖靈所能給我們的祝福，則也因我們能接受祂多少而受到限制。也因此當神要我們擁有更豐富的祝福時，祂往往只好藉著環境使我們有更大的需要來供應之。
當我們有更多的需要、面臨更大的考驗時，神總是會給我們更多器皿，使我們能裝滿聖靈所賜的力量。神也藉著這些機會，讓我們更得著祂。而每一次當我們面臨一個新的需要時，祂總是給我們更多的祝福。
主啊！在我們處於每一個艱難的情況當中時，幫助我們仰望您，使我們能把這些情況視為裝滿您恩典的器皿。