八福
健康地站出来
经文
申命记三十1-20
1我所陈明在你面前的这一切咒诅都临到你身上；你在耶和华─你神追赶你到的万国中必心里追念祝福的话；
2你和你的子孙若尽心尽性归向耶和华─你的神，照着我今日一切所吩咐的听从他的话；
3那时，耶和华─你的神必怜恤你，救回你这被掳的子民；耶和华─你的神要回转过来，从分散你到的万民中将你招聚回来。
4你被赶散的人，就是在天涯的，耶和华─你的神也必从那里将你招聚回来。
5耶和华─你的神必领你进入你列祖所得的地，使你可以得着；又必善待你，使你的人数比你列祖众多。
6耶和华─你神必将你心里和你后裔心里的污秽除掉，好叫你尽心尽性爱耶和华─你的神，使你可以存活。
7耶和华─你的神必将这一切咒诅加在你仇敌和恨恶你、逼迫你的人身上。
8你必归回，听从耶和华的话，遵行他的一切诫命，就是我今日所吩咐你的。
9、10你若听从耶和华─你神的话，谨守这律法书上所写的诫命律例，又尽心尽性归向耶和华─你的神，他必使你手里所办的一切事，并你身所生的，牲畜所下的，地土所产的，都绰绰有余；因为耶和华必再喜悦你，降福与你，像从前喜悦你列祖一样。
11我今日所吩咐你的诫命不是你难行的，也不是离你远的；
12不是在天上，使你说：谁替我们上天取下来，使我们听见可以遵行呢？
13也不是在海外，使你说：谁替我们过海取了来，使我们听见可以遵行呢？
14这话却离你甚近，就在你口中，在你心里，使你可以遵行。
15看哪，我今日将生与福，死与祸，陈明在你面前。
16吩咐你爱耶和华─你的神，遵行他的道，谨守他的诫命、律例、典章，使你可以存活，人数增多，耶和华─你神就必在你所要进去得为业的地上赐福与你。
17倘若你心里偏离，不肯听从，却被勾引去敬拜事奉别神，
18我今日明明告诉你们，你们必要灭亡；在你过约但河、进去得为业的地上，你的日子必不长久。
19我今日呼天唤地向你作见证；我将生死祸福陈明在你面前，所以你要拣选生命，使你和你的后裔都得存活；
20且爱耶和华─你的神，听从他的话，专靠他；因为他是你的生命，你的日子长久也在乎他。这样，你就可以在耶和华向你列祖亚伯拉罕、以撒、雅各起誓应许所赐的地上居住。
信息分享
今天是我们最后一天默想第八福，也是最后一福。有人认为，在这福之后的经文（11和12节）是第九福，但它们实际上只是阐释了主耶稣在第10节所说的话。我必须指出，主对第八福所说的话，比其他福更多，说明了第八福的重要性。
我们当问自己一个问题：第八福如何为我们带来良好的心理和灵性健康？答案是借着鼓励我们站出来和活得有价值。据说多年前，著名的宣教士医生和科学家史怀哲博士（Dr. Albert Schweitzer）向非洲一群医护界人士演说时说道：「你必须有某些你愿意支持的东西和信念，你甚至会为它们付出代价，否则的话你不可能得到健康。」
那些认同基督、不以祂为耻，并且为了祂而站出来的人，知道这样的立场无可避免的会带来某种形式的迫害；然而，他们的内心却经历一种内在的释放，不会惧怕，并且对他们的人格有正面的影响。积极的人可能会受到迫害，但他们也是最具有影响力的人，在其他人跌倒的时候他们仍然能够生存。所以，不要再耗损你的神经系统；停止使用宝贵的能量去寻找属世成功的办法。跟随神在八福中列出的蓝图，你的生命便会透过耶稣的心理学，让你以最少的焦虑，得着最大的效果。但要是你选择任何其他的途径，你就会经历最多的焦虑，换来极小的回报。你决定选择甚么了吗？我自己会拣选生命。
「站出来并且活得有价值」
进深研究
门1-25；弗三1；彼前三15-16
1.保罗怎样看自己被囚？
2.你上次被迫害是在甚么时候？
祈祷
天父，我也拣选生命。求您帮助我吸收您的态度以及被它们同化，这样我的生命才更有价值。亲爱的主，有了您的帮助，我才能踏实的生活。哈利路亚！
The Beatitudes
Stand and be - healthy
Bible reading:
Deuteronomy 30:1-20
1 When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations,
2 and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today,
3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes[a] and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.
4 Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.
5 He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.
6 The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
7 The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you.
8 You will again obey the Lord and follow all his commands I am giving you today.
9 Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors,
10 if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.
12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"
13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"
14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.
16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,
18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live
20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Message
We spend one last day meditating on the eighth and final Beatitude. Some feel that the verses which follow this Beatitude (verses 11 and 12) constitute a ninth Beatitude, but really they are an amplification of what our Lord has been saying in verse 10. It must be pointed out in passing that more is said about this eighth Beatitude than is said about the others - a fact that surely underlines its supreme importance.
The question we ask ourselves today is this: How does this eighth Beatitude contribute to good mental and spiritual health? It does so by encouraging us to stand up and be counted. The famous missionary doctor and scientist Dr Albert Schweitzer, when addressing a group of medical men in Africa many years ago, is reported to have said: "You cannot be healthy unless you stand for something - even at a cost."
The person who unashamedly identifies with Christ and stands up for Him, knowing that their stand will produce, in one form or another, inevitable persecution experiences an inner release from fear that affects every part of the personality in the most positive way. The positive may be persecuted, but they are also the most productive - they survive when others fall by the way. So stop wearing out your nervous system. Cease using up precious energy trying to find ways to make it through this world. Follow God's blueprint as laid out in the eight Beatitudes and yours will be a life which, through the psychology of Jesus, will bring you maximum effectiveness with minimum weariness. Choose any other way and you will experience minimum effectiveness with maximum weariness. I choose life.
"Stand up and be counted"
Prayer
Father, I, too, choose life. Help me to absorb and assimilate Your attitudes until they become my attitudes. Then life will always have to be spelt with a capital "L". With Your help, dear Lord, I'm on my way to real living. Hallelujah!
Further study
Philemon 1-25
Ephesians 3:1
1 Peter 3:15-16
1. How did Paul view his imprisonment?
2. When were you last persecuted?
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