【双语灵修】神所拣选的器皿GOD’S CHOSEN INSTRUMENT

使徒行传 9:1-19

扫罗仍然向主的门徒口吐威吓凶杀的话,去见大祭司, 求文书给大马士革的各会堂,若是找着信奉这道的人,无论男女,都准他捆绑带到耶路撒冷。 扫罗行路,将到大马士革,忽然从天上发光,四面照着他。 他就仆倒在地,听见有声音对他说:“扫罗,扫罗,你为什么逼迫我?” 他说:“主啊,你是谁?”主说:“我就是你所逼迫的耶稣。 起来!进城去,你所当做的事,必有人告诉你。” 同行的人站在那里,说不出话来,听见声音,却看不见人。 扫罗从地上起来,睁开眼睛,竟不能看见什么。有人拉他的手,领他进了大马士革。 三日不能看见,也不吃也不喝。当下,在大马士革有一个门徒,名叫亚拿尼亚。主在异象中对他说:“亚拿尼亚!”他说:“主,我在这里。” 主对他说:“起来!往直街去,在犹大的家里访问一个大数人,名叫扫罗。他正祷告, 又看见了一个人,名叫亚拿尼亚,进来按手在他身上,叫他能看见。” 亚拿尼亚回答说:“主啊,我听见许多人说这人怎样在耶路撒冷多多苦害你的圣徒, 并且他在这里有从祭司长得来的权柄,捆绑一切求告你名的人。” 主对亚拿尼亚说:“你只管去!他是我所拣选的器皿,要在外邦人和君王并以色列人面前宣扬我的名。 我也要指示他,为我的名必须受许多的苦难。”亚拿尼亚就去了,进入那家,把手按在扫罗身上,说:“兄弟扫罗,在你来的路上向你显现的主,就是耶稣,打发我来叫你能看见,又被圣灵充满。” 扫罗的眼睛上好像有鳞立刻掉下来,他就能看见。于是起来受了洗, 吃过饭就健壮了。

4月18日

神所拣选的器皿

“主对亚拿尼亚说:‘你只管去!他是我所拣选的器皿,要在外邦人和君王,并以色列人面前宣扬我的名。’” - 使徒行传 9:15

你会指望从一桶机油里倒出葡萄酒吗?或者打碎一个鸡蛋,却发现里面是枫糖浆?又或者打开你的手提箱,发现里面竟是一朵盛开的郁金香?不太可能,对吧?

同样地,你也不会指望听到扫罗说出,或做出任何推动耶稣事工的事。扫罗一直在逼迫耶稣的跟随者。他是宗教领袖们意图扼杀早期教会这项计划的“总工程师”,没有什么能阻止他。但后来,耶稣阻止了他。

某天,在去大马士革的路上,耶稣用一道耀眼的光拦住了扫罗的脚步。耶稣对扫罗说话,转化了他,并住进他里面—就像住在所有其他信徒里面一样。扫罗成了一个新造的人。他从死亡迁入生命,从不信迁入信,从“口吐威吓凶杀的话”转变为宣扬基督。

这样的故事如何能在你身上体现出来?随着复活的基督在你里面越发成形,你的生命中正在酝酿着什么?

你可能不是扫罗,但如果你信耶稣是救主,你就是一个新造的人,就像扫罗和许许多多其他人一样。并且,基督定意要通过祂,在你里面成就改变生命的工作,让人看见祂。

祷告

“主啊,开我们的眼睛。我们要看见耶稣”—看见你在我们里面,以及在我们所爱的人里面动工。我们奉耶稣的名祷告。阿们。

Acts 9:1-19

SATURDAY, APRIL 18

GOD’S CHOSEN INSTRUMENT

“Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.” —Acts 9:15

Would you expect wine to come from a jug of motor oil? What if you cracked open an egg and found maple syrup inside? Or how about opening your suitcase and finding a bed of tulips in bloom? Not likely, right?

Similarly, you would not expect to hear about Saul saying or doing anything to promote the cause of Jesus. Saul had been persecuting Jesus’ followers. He was the chief engineer of the religious leaders’ project to snuff out the early church, and nothing was going to stop him.

But then Jesus did.

Jesus stopped Saul in his tracks one day with a blinding light on the road to Damascus. Jesus spoke to Saul, transformed him, and came to live in him— just as in all of the other believers. Saul became a new creation. He moved away from death toward life, away from unbelief to belief, away from “breathing out murderous threats” to proclaiming Christ.

How might this kind of story come to life in you? What is developing in you, as the resurrected Christ becomes more fully formed in you?

You might not be a Saul, but if you believe in Jesus as the Savior, you are a new creation, just like Saul and so many others. And Christ aims to be visible through the life-changing work he is doing in you.

“Open our eyes, Lord. We want to see Jesus”— at work within us and within the people we love. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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