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【摩根有条不紊的生活】英国摩根博士，是全世界闻名的解经家，讲道者。有人曾替他着一传记，述说他的生活。书中说：博士极好整齐次序，家中每一物具，必有一定位置安放。就是一纸一笔，也不乱放。每读完一书，即在书内写明何年何月何日读完。且还作一笔记，叙述书中内容．并加评论。每收一信，必写回情，若是能行，立刻回信。每信必有副本，以便检阅。并且也要登记，分类保存。旅行讲道皆有记录，统计至一九二九年七月止，共讲道二万零八十三次，旅行过七十一万四千零四十二哩，渡大西洋四十九次。如今着书已出版的，共七十二部。
【康比利的失败】康比利（Billy Conn)想夺拳击锦标，几乎登位世界重量级的王座。他与拳王鲁易士（现已退出拳坛）斗拳，直到十三回合，大家认为胜利非他莫属，必操左券无疑。弄得鲁易土无懈可乘。但他作错了一件事，就是那幺一件事，便被鲁易士杀得落花流水；原来他松懈了一二秒锺，未加防备。这个错误正是鲁易士所求之不得的。因这错误，康比利失败了；鲁易士仍保他的王座。属神的人哪！要得赏赐，必须时刻儆醒谨守，免得失去冠冕。『所以我们不要睡觉，像别人一样，总要儆醒谨守。』（帖撒罗尼迦前书五意六节）
【运动家沉屡落选】意大利的运动家沉屡（Signor Dorando)参加一九○八年奥林匹克的长程竞走。他一路领先；但到离开终点约有三十码之时，忽然晕倒。拥护他的人围他狂呼；他于欢呼声中，醒了起来，勉强站立。这时虽然他还不能举步，继续向前；但他仍然遥遥领先，若用两脚两手慢慢来爬，亦可膺获第一名。但在拥护他的群众中，有一人轻轻放手在他背上扶他，使他不至倾跌。裁判员立即呜笛，宣布沉屡落选。我们今天在场上比武也是这样。『人若在场上比武，非按规矩，就不能得冠冕。』（提摩太后书二章五节）
【野驴推空磨】生野的驴，又傲又蛮，不安约束，不善推磨。主人先用旧磨空磨勉强野驴推转。野驴不服，踢、跳、叫，甚至拉翻磨石，毫无生产。有的负责人在教会中蛮干硬干，把教会搅翻开散，正如野驴推空磨，一事无成。
【我们不是作主的工具，乃是作主的器皿】我们今天为主作工，并不在乎在外面为主作多少，乃在乎里面充满主有多少，彰显流露主有多少。我们并不是被主拿在手里，当作斧头、锤头去打东西；主没有意思要我们作祂的工具，主却要我们作祂的器皿。『灯管』为着装电，电一通进来就能发光。灯管的功用是让电通过，把电发表出来。
【基督徒的正业是事奉神】旧约那些祭司和利未人，他们也种田，也有家务，但是这些都是他们的副业，他们的正业乃是事奉神。基督徒也是这样。
【事奉神是祭司的本行】祭司是一班专门的人，正如同教员、律师、医生、工程师，是一班专门的人一样。教员是专门教书的，医生是专门医病的，律师是专门办理法律事务的，工程师是专门作工程的，而祭司乃是专门事奉神的。事奉神就是祭司的本行本业。
【要在教会里事奉神】通常我们作任何事，都要有一个对的立场，一个正当的场合。比方，教书要到学校，作律师要到法庭，作医生要到医院，作工程师要到工场。同样的，事奉神也必须在教会里；教会就是人事奉神一个对的立场，一个正当的场合。
【事奉与生活应该一致】我们对神的事奉，不是唱戏，不是表演，乃是一种经常的生活。作戏表演的人，他们所生活的和他们所表演的完全不同。很可能他们在台上表演一个很良善、很慈爱的人，但他们在生活里很凶恶。所以生活和表演完全是两回事。我们事奉神的人不是这样。我们的生活和事奉完全一致。我们的事奉就是我们的生活，我们的生活也就是事奉。
【我们的事奉一旦有了成果，我们的手就必须挪开】马利亚和约瑟为着怀基督、生基督、养基督，付上了高的代价，但是当耶稣长大之后，他们必须把们的手挪开。当耶稣十二岁时，有一天当他们离开耶路撒冷，他们找不着祂，后来发现祂在耶路撒冷圣殿里，马利亚说，『我儿，看哪，你父亲和我伤心来找你。』但耶稣说，『岂不知我应当以我父的事为念么？』这意思是说，神是祂的父亲，约瑟并不是。在迦拿变水为酒的神迹里，马利亚暗示耶稣该起来作一件事，但祂却说，『妇人，我与你有甚么相干？』然后到了末了，当祂在十字架上，祂告诉她不要看祂是她儿子。这事应用在我们新约的事奉上，意即也许你能为主作很好的工，但当工作建立了之后，你必须把你的手从那建好的工作上挪开去。
※ 李鸿章说世界上只有三种人︰可移动的、不可移动的，以及移动人的。
【Commitment】A certain dog had always boasted of his
ability as a runner. Then one day a rabbit that he was chasing got away. This
brought a lot of ridicule from the other dogs because of his previous boasting.
His explanation: “You must remember that the rabbit was running for his life,
while I was only running for my dinner.”
【Commitment】On August 11, 1978, Double Eagle II, a large
helium balloon, and her crew of three eased into an almost windless sky above
the potato fields of Maine. Their destination was Paris, France. The
aerodynamics of ballooning are somewhat complex, but one thing is certain. In
order for the balloon to stay aloft as the journey progressed, ballast (that
which is used to add weight)had to be expelled. As they approached continental
Europe six days later, one of the crew wrote, “We have been expending ballast
wisely, but as we neared land, not cheaply…over went such gear as tape
recorders, radios, film magazines, sleeping bag, lawn chairs, most of our
water, food, and the cooler it was in.”
Following
Christ is the wisest choice a man can make, but it does not come cheap. Just as
for these balloonists many important things had to be abandoned because they
weighed them down, so for the believer.
P.S.
The balloonists’ mission was accomplished.
【Commitment】For many days an old farmer had been plowing
with an ox and a mule together and working them pretty hard. The ox said to the
mule, “Let’s play sick today and rest a little while.” But the old mule said,
“No, we need to get the work done, for the season is short.”
But
the ox played sick, and the farmer brought him fresh hay and corn and made him
comfortable. When the mule came in from plowing, the ox asked how he made out.
“We didn’t get as much done, but we made it all right,” answered the mule. Then
the ox asked, “What did the old man say about me?” “Nothing,” said the mule.
The
next day the ox, thinking he had a good thing going, played sick again. When
the mule came in again very tired, the ox asked, “How did it go?” The mule
said, “All right, I guess, but we didn’t get much done.” Then the ox also
asked, “What did the old man say about me?” “Nothing to me,” was the reply,
“but he did stop and have a long talk with the butcher.”
【Commitment】John Audubon, the well-known naturalist and
artist, practiced great self-mastery in order to learn more about birds.
Counting his physical comforts as nothing, he would rise at midnight night
after night and go into the swamps to study certain nighthawks. He would crouch
motionless in the dark and fog, hoping to discover just one more additional
fact about a single species.
During
one summer, Audubon repeatedly visited the bayous near New Orleans to observe a
shy water bird. He would stand almost to his neck in the stagnant waters,
scarcely breathing, while poisonous water-moccasin snakes swam past his face.
It was not comfortable or pleasant, but he beamed with enthusiasm and is
reported to have said, “But what of that? I have the picture of the birds.” He
endured all these things just for a picture of a bird!
If a
man could be so disciplined for a temporal and physical reward, how much more
committed should the child of God be for the imperishable prize before him?
【Commitment】Many men of the world have understood the
necessity for commitment if they are to accomplish great things. For example,
when Spanish explorer Cortez landed at Vera Cruz in 1519 to begin his conquest
of Mexico with a small force of seven hundred men, legend has it that he
purposely set fire to his fleet of eleven ships. Presumably, his men on the
shore watched their only means of retreat sink to the bottom of the Gulf of
Mexico. There was now only one direct to move—forward into the Mexican interior
to meet whatever might come their way.
As
part of our commitment as Christ’s disciples, we must purposefully destroy all
avenues of retreat. We must resolve that whatever price is required for being
his follower, we will pay it.
【Commitment】In the 1976 Summer Olympics, Shun Fujimoto
competed in the team gymnastics competition for Japan. In a quest for the gold
medal, Fujimoto suffered a broken right knee in the floor exercise. But his
injury did not stop him, for during the next week he competed in his strongest
event, the rings. His routine was excellent, but he astounded everyone by
squarely dismounting with a triple somersault twist on a broken right kneel.
When asked concerning his feat, he said, “Yes, the pain shot through me like a
knife. It brought tears to my eyes. But now I have a gold medal and the pain is
gone.”
【Commitment】Henry Thoreau, that rugged New England
individualist of the nineteenth century, once went to jail rather than pay his
poll tax to a state that supported slavery. Thoreau’s good friend Ralph Waldo
Emerson hurred to visit him in jail and, peering through the bars, exclaimed:
“Why, Henry, what are you doing in there?”
The
uncowed Thoreau replied, “Nay, Ralph, the question is, what are you doing out
there?”
【Commitment】The story is told that when James Calvert went
out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the Captain of the
ship that had carried him there sought to turn him back by saying, “You will
lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages.”
Calvert’s reply well demonstrates the cost of commitment: “We died before we
came here.”
【Commitment】A mission society is reported to have written
to David Livingstone: “Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, we
want to send other men to join you.” Livingstone replied: “If you have men who
will come only if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men
who will come if there is no road at all.”
【Commitment】Robert Chapman of Barnstaple, a great friend
of the late George Muller of Bristol, was once asked, “Would you not advise
young Christians to do something for the Lord?” “No,” was the reply, “I should
advise them to do everything for the Lord.”
【Communist
Commitment】”If you ask me
what is the distinguishing mark of the Communist, what is it that Communists
most outstandingly have in common, I would not say, as some might expect, their
ability to hate…, I would say beyond any shadow of doubt it is their idealism,
their zeal, dedication, devotion to their cause and willingness to
sacrifice.”—Douglas Hyde, former head of the Communist Party of Great Britain,
before his conversion to Catholicism.
【Cost of
Commitment】A hen and a pig
approached a church and read the advertised sermon topic: “What can we do to
help the poor?” Immediately the hen suggested they feed them bacon and eggs.
The pig thought for a moment and said, “There is only one thing wrong with
feeding bacon and eggs to the poor. For you it requires only a contribution,
but for me it requires total commitment!”
【Cost of
Commitment】And elderly
Christian man in Communist-controlled Budapest remarked when asked about the
effects of persecution and discrimination on the lives of Christians: “it is
like the deep, fast-flowing Danube River. The banks of the river were
artificially narrowed throughout the city of Budapest. As a result the river’s
fast waters dug deeper and deeper into the river bottom.”
Believers
under restrictions and persecution have limited freedom and few political
options, but their narrowed lives have found great depth by going deeper in
Christ.
【Experience】It has been said
that there is not a man or woman alive who could not retire comfortably in
their old age if they could sell their experience for what it cost them.
【Experience】Experience is a
wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
【Experience】A useful axe
must be sharp, but to have a sharp axe you must be willing to allow it to
suffer loss on the grindstone. In a similar way, if you want to live a life
that is useful in service to God, you must be willing to allow him to put you
on the grindstone of trials and testings so that you may be made sharp through
loss.