2008-10-14 Devotionals Today

知信行網上團契為各主內肢體提供的每日靈糧，歡迎訂閱，推介及奉獻支持。 《網絡天糧》查詢，請電郵：ccf@ccfellow.org 訂閱天糧 | 轉介天糧 | 修訂訂閱 | 奉獻支持 與神相交的證據 粵語 國語 第14天 讀經：   約翰壹書二章1至2節 我們今天所讀的經文只有兩節，但它們的含意卻極深。它們關係到我們與天父的相交──你知道嗎？我們的天父渴望與我們相交，更甚於其他一切。當你知道後，是否大吃一驚呢？ 約翰壹書一章5至10節清楚告訴我們，每個信徒都仍有罪性和犯罪的可能；我們的舊本性總是死纏不放，一直要到我們離開身體這軀殼，回到榮耀的天家，才能完全擺脫罪性。約翰在這裡的第1節再次指出：「我承認每個信徒都仍有罪性，但繼續犯罪卻是不對，也是神所不容的。」 約翰把收信者視作家人般勸勉說：「我的小孩兒，你們快將進到世界。但不要忘記你們的身分，我希望你們要保持家的聲譽。神必幫助你，但有些事情是你們絕不可以去做的。你萬一犯了罪，就只管回到神那裡，因為神已經為你提供了一個處理罪的方法。然而，我當然希望你們不要犯罪，因為你們是神的兒女。」 當約翰說：「若有人犯罪」，他是指到偶然一次被過犯所勝，而不是持續不斷的犯罪。即使我們每個人都渴望過討主喜悅的生活，但我們必須承認，我們還是經常被罪所勝。我們若然犯了罪，該怎麼辦呢？趕快回到家裡。「如果你遇上麻煩，你身邊總有一個人會幫助你去解決。」我們每個人都需要這人的隨時幫忙，因為祂就是耶穌基督，祂必能幫助我們。 當我們犯了罪，基督會站在父神面前，為我們求情：「父啊，這人是我們家中的一個孩子。他已經被我的寶血遮蓋。他雖然犯了罪，但我已為他的罪受了刑罰，請你赦免他吧！」 我們的敵人撒但經常在父面前指控我們，所以，我們更需要基督為我們代求，因為天父總必聽祂。 約翰還提醒我們，基督不單為我們的罪受死，祂更是為普天下人的罪作了挽回祭。我們要處理本身的罪之同時，更要關心普天下的人同樣要解決罪的問題。基督是我們的代求者，但祂同時也是普天下人的代贖者。將祂為普天下人成就的工作傳給所有人知道，乃是我們當盡的責任。 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FELLOWSHIP TESTED Day 14 Bible Reading:   1 John 2:1-2 FELLOWSHIP TESTED Only two verses in our reading today but what wonderful verses they are. They concern our fellowship with our heavenly Father- something that he wants above everything else. Isn't that a wonderful thought? In 1 John 1:5-10 we saw clearly that in every believer there is the root and possibility of sin. Our old nature is always with us until we leave this body and go home to glory. John says again here in these verses 'I recognise the possibility of sinning by the believer but the continuing practise of sin is wrong and is prohibited'. John writes to the family of God and says 'My little children, you are going out into the world. You bear the family name. I want you to keep it clean. God will help you but there are some things that you must not do. If you sin God has provided a way of dealing with the situation, but it will be far better if you do not sin at all because you are a child of God.' When John says 'If anyone does sin', he is talking about a single action rather than continuing in sin. All of us are overtaken by sin from time to time, even though our desire is to live constantly as Christ would have us live. What happens then when we do sin? Go back to the family scene. 'If you ever get into trouble, there is someone who will stand by you and get you out of trouble.' We all need someone like that don't we, and that person is Christ himself. When we sin, Christ stands before the Father and says 'Father this is one of our family. He is covered by my blood. He has sinned but I have paid the penalty for his sin and he still remains one of the family.' We need an advocate I like that because we have an adversary, Satan himself. He is called the accuser of the brethren and that is what he does. when we sin. He accuses us before God but Jesus Christ always takes our part and he always wins with the Father. John adds one thing more-he reminds us that Christ died not for our sins only but the sins of the whole world. In our concern over the Christian's sin problem let us not forget the world's sin problem. Christ is our advocate but he is also the world's redeemer. To tell the world is our responsibility.