“Create in Me a Pure Heart, O God 神啊,求你為我造一顆清潔的心!“(John 約翰福音3:1-3)
… He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.’ Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’
… 他夜間來到耶穌那裡,對他說:“拉比,我們知道你是從神那裡來的教師,因為如果沒有神同在,你所行的這些神蹟,就沒有人能行。”耶穌回答:“我實實在在告訴你,人若不重生,就不能見神的國。”
The miracle of new birth is the key to God’s kingdom hinted in Psalm 51:10 ‘Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me’ but boldly and openly declared by our Saviour that if we come to Him and are not born again from above, we cannot enter God’s kingdom. 2 Corinthians 5:17 states that if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! If a man’s experience in Christ can be broken down and explained by the psychologists, we have a church member on our hands – and not a Christian! For that which must happen in the new birth can never be explained by psychology or psychiatry. And in that great and terrible day to come, many will be shocked when they find that they depended upon a mental assent to Christianity instead of upon the miracle of the new birth!
重生的神蹟就是那進入神國的鑰匙,在詩篇51:10「神啊!求你為我造一顆清潔的心,求你使我裡面重新有堅定的靈」中已暗示了,而我們的救主更是大膽而公開地宣告,我們若來到祂面前又不從上頭而重生,就不能進入神的國。哥林多後書5:17說明:「若有人在基督裡,他就是新造的人,舊事已過,都變成新的了。」倘若人在基督裡的經歷體驗能被心理學家分析和解釋,那麼我們有的只是一位教會會友,而不是基督徒!因為在重生裡必發生的從來不是心理學或精神病學所能解釋的。在那將要來臨、大而可畏的日子裡,當許多人發現自己依靠精神上對基督教的認同,而非重生的神蹟時,他們必定會震驚!
Prayer: Oh Lord Jesus, you are pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Thank you for having become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. May we resolve to know nothing while we are with other ‘wise’ persons except Jesus Christ and Him crucified and our testimonies be plain words with a demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power. Amen.
禱告: 主耶穌啊,你樂意藉著所傳的愚笨的道理,去拯救那些相信的人。感謝你已成了從神而來給我們的智慧;就是公義、聖潔和救贖。願我們立定主意,在別的「智者」們中間甚麼都不想知道,只知道耶穌基督和祂釘十字架的事,並我們直白的見證是用聖靈的能力來證明。阿們。