詩人尋獲這真理。在聖所他明白自己感覺的由來，他不是暫時的提升，僅僅維持幾小時或幾天，而是得到終身受用的解決辦法。事實上，是這經歷促使他能夠寫下我們現在每天都在研讀的這篇詩篇。「思想他們的結局」（詩七十三17），這句子表示在此之前他並沒有正確地思想。他以前是從片面和不完整的角度去看事物，但現在「在聖所裡」他開始看見整幅圖畫，他說：「然後我明白。」這指的是甚麼時候？就是他來到聖所的時候。

阿諾德（Matthew Arnold）的著作有一句話說：「誰平穩地看生命，便能看到生命的整體。」這是多麼令人興奮的話。沒有甚麼比能夠平穩和完整地看待生命更美好。我們生命中很多內在的混亂都是因為我們沒有去看生命的整體。有人將偏見定義為「只看到你想看的東西」。有偏見的人說：「我總是這樣看。」那正是他們的問題──他們的雙眼只專注於事情的一個角度，不讓自己看到其他的部分。

「聖經令我們明白生命」

進深研究
弗五1-20；提後一8

1. 我們當如何對自己說話？
2. 保羅怎樣勸告提摩太？

祈禱
天父，求您幫助我，因為我不想受偏見或偏執束縛，我要能夠完整的去看生命。我們在未來幾天還要繼續思考這個問題，然而要是沒有您的話，我們甚麼也做不到。天父，求您幫助我。阿們。

The Power of a New Perspective

Day 221

Seeing life whole

"...Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have..." (v.15)

Bible reading:
1 Peter 3:13-22

13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?

14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear their threats[a]; do not be frightened."[b]

15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

17 For it is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

19 After being made alive,[c] he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—

20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,

21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.[d] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

22 who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

Message

As Christians we ought never to forget that the message of the Bible is addressed primarily to the understanding; it enables us to understand life. Because of the Bible, we are able to give a reason for the hope that is within us.

The psalmist found the truth of this. In the sanctuary he discovered an explanation for the way that he felt. He was not given a temporary lift that would stay with him for a few hours or a few days - he was given a solution that would stay with him for the rest of his life. It was this, in fact, that caused him to write the psalm we are focusing upon day by day. The words: "Then I understood their final destiny" (Psa. 73:17) suggest that previously he had not been thinking correctly. He had been seeing things from a partial and incomplete perspective, but now "in the sanctuary" he began to see the whole picture: "Then I understood". When? Then - when he came into the sanctuary.

There is a line in one of Matthew Arnold's writings that goes like this: "Who saw life steadily, and saw it whole." What a delightful phrase this is. Nothing can be more wonderful than to see life steadily and to see it whole. Much of the inner turmoil we go through in life comes about because we do not see life as a whole. Prejudice has been defined as "seeing only what you want to see". People who are prejudiced say: "I have always seen it that way." That's their problem - their eyes are fixed on just one facet of an issue and they will not allow themselves to look at the other sides.

"The Bible enables us to understand life"

Prayer
O Father, help me, for I don't want to be in bondage to prejudice or bigotry - I want to see life whole. We must work this issue out together over these next few days, for apart from You I can do nothing. Help me, Father. Amen.

Further study
Ephesians 5:1-20
2 Timothy 1:8

1. How are we to speak to ourselves?
2. What did Paul admonish Timothy?

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