Love Not The World

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." - 1 John 2:15

Once there was a painting exhibition. One of the paintings pointed allegorically to a Christian. In the picture there were lying around all kinds of toys which a child loved. Yet that child did not seem to notice any of them; his eyes instead were fixed upon the window before him, and also his hands were stretched forward. Viewing the painting from a distance would suggest nothing at all, but a closer look revealed a beautiful tiny pigeon perched on the window sill. And the caption beneath the painting indicated in so many words that for the sake of wanting that pretty little pigeon the child forsook all the toys. And thus the moral of the picture became obvious: that in order to possess the more excellent thing one must leave the other things. God has not demanded that we cast away anything; He instead puts before us the more excellent. For the sake of possessing the more excellent, we naturally will forsake many lesser things.

The Lord My Portion (Watchman Nee 主僕倪柝聲弟兄)

Read the Scriptures: 1 John 2

Right or Wrong

"Whosoever shall compel thee to go one mile, go with him twain." - Matthew 5:41

A brother in South China had a rice field in the middle of the hill. In time of drought he used a water-wheel, worked by a treadmill, to lift water from the irrigation stream into his field. His neighbour had two fields below his, and one night his neighbour made a breach in the dividing bank and drained off all his water. When the brother repaired the breach and pumped in more water, his neighbour did the same thing again, and this happened three or four times. So he consulted his brethren. 'I have tried to be patient and not to retaliate,' he said, 'but is it right?' After they had prayed together about it, one of them observed, 'If we only try to do the right thing, surely we are very poor Christians. We have to do something more than what is right.' The brother was much impressed. Next morning he pumped water for the two fields below, and in the afternoon pumped water for his own field. After that the water stayed in his field. His neighbour was so amazed at his action that he began to inquire the reason, until in due course he too found Christ.

'Right or wrong' is the principle of the Gentiles and tax gatherers (verse 46). Not that, but conformity to Him, must govern my life.

A Table In The Wilderness (Watchman Nee 主僕倪柝聲弟兄)

Read the Scriptures: Matthew 5

Broken by God

"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." - Habakkuk 3:18

When the Galilean boy brought his bread to Jesus, what did Jesus do with it? He broke it. God will always break what is offered to Him. He breaks what He takes, then blesses and uses it to meet men's needs.

Is not this true to your experience and mine? You give yourself to the Lord, and at once everything goes so badly wrong that you are tempted to find fault with His ways. To persist in such an attitude is to be broken, yes indeed, but to what purpose? You have gone too far for the world to use you, but you have not gone far enough for God. This is the tragedy of many a Christian. Do we want Him to use us? Then day by day let us go on giving to Him, not finding fault with His methods, but accepting His handling of us with praise and expectation.

A Table In The Wilderness (by Watchman Nee 主僕倪柝聲弟兄)
Read the Scriptures: Habakkuk 3; Matthew 4:13-21

Wait On The Lord

"In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." - Isaiah 30:15

Desire for haste bespeaks an emotional nature. Emotion is usually hasty. It is extremely hard for the hasty Christian to wait on the Lord, to know His will and knowing it, to walk a step at a time in that will. Indeed we who are His own are incapable of following the Spirit until our emotions are truly yielded to the cross. We need first to learn there the "patience of Jesus Christ," for let us remember that out of a hundred impatient actions, scarcely one is in the will of God.

Because He knows the impetuosity of our nature, God frequently uses our fellow workers, brethren, family, or environment to put the brake on us. For God never performs anything hurriedly; consequently, He will rarely entrust His power to the impatient

「你們得救在乎歸回安息；你們得力在乎平靜安穩」賽30：15

衝動、急躁乃是人的天性。人的情緒常常是急率的。性急的基督徒很難等候神，明白祂的旨意；或在明白之後，很難遵照神的旨意，一步步按部就班地行。的確，屬神的人，除非先讓其情緒接受十字架的對付，否則不可能順從聖靈行事。我們必須先在十字架上學習「耶穌基督的忍耐」。讓我們切記，在一百樁缺乏耐心的草率行動裏，很少有一樁是合乎神旨意的。

因為神知道我們性情的衝動，所以祂屢次用我們的同工、弟兄、家人及環境來作我們的煞車工具。神行事從不匆忙，因此祂很少將祂的能力託付給急躁的人。


The Joyful Heart (by Watchman Nee 主僕倪柝聲弟兄)
Read the Scriptures: Isaiah 30

Bring in the Light

"And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not." - John 1:5

There is a great danger today of concentrating attention on questions of dark things and making them the subject of conversation. We invite darkness by discussing it, seeking to deal with it, or even thinking about it. The Christian must learn in this to set aside everything that is negative and be occupied with the positive.

Darkness cannot be driven out of the world, but light can swallow it up. The reverse is never true. There is no such thing as darkness swallowing up light. Light is light wherever it is, even under a bushel. Let me repeat: here even in this dark world, light is light. All the world's darkness cannot extinguish it, but must itself retreat before even the glow of a tiny candle. When you meet darkness, it is absurd to dispel it. Just bring in the light.

The Joyful Heart (by Watchman Nee)

Read the Scriptures: John 1:1-5