八福
美丽的态度
经文
罗马书十三7-14
7凡人所当得的,就给他。当得粮的,给他纳粮;当得税的,给他上税;当惧怕的,惧怕他;当恭敬的,恭敬他。
8凡事都不可亏欠人,惟有彼此相爱要常以为亏欠;因为爱人的,就完全了律法。
9像那不可奸淫,不可杀人,不可偷盗,不可贪婪,或有别的诫命,都包在爱人如己这一句话之内了。
10爱是不加害与人的,所以爱就完全了律法。
11再者,你们晓得现今就是该趁早睡醒的时候;因为我们得救,现今比初信的时候更近了。
12黑夜已深,白昼将近;我们就当脱去暗昧的行为,带上光明的兵器。
13行事为人要端正,好像行在白昼。不可荒宴醉酒,不可好色邪荡,不可争竞嫉妒;
14总要披戴主耶稣基督,不要为肉体安排,去放纵私欲。
信息分享
让我们继续来思考关于耶稣的登山宝训其中一段教导──八福。精神病专家费希尔博士认为,八福是精神和灵性健康最好的处方。在我们讨论这个话题的开始阶段,我想以八福的英文字,来说明一个重要的观念,八福的英文是“Beatitudes”,如把牠拆开成为“be-attitudes”,意思是一种「自我存在」的态度;所以八福是“be-attitudes”,而不是“do-attitudes”,即不是一种「行动」的态度,因为一个人的行动是从他的存在而来。有些牧者和解经家把八福的英文“Beatitudes”一字拆开,成为“the beauty attitudes”,即是「美丽的态度」,我觉得这个描述很有意思。
我们的态度对自我的每一部分都有很深远和重大的影响,无论是身体还是情绪。一位来自菲律宾的宣教士讲述在战争期间,他和太太怎样被日本人命令进入集中营,除了行李箱能够装的东西外,什么也不能带。他太太的体重只有一百磅多一点,并不强壮但是提着二百磅重的东西,大部分都是罐头食物,走了五英里的路程。他们两人到达后便再也提不起这个重量了!著名科学家曼海姆(Mannheim)说,我们平常只能用到身体潜力的八分之一,只有在运用正确的态度时,其余的潜力才能够发挥出来。
要是态度可以帮助我们发挥隐藏的体力,那么我们若采用主耶稣在登山宝训中所阐释的「美丽的态度」,我们可以有什么样的经验?我们可以将身体、精神和情绪的潜力都发挥得淋漓尽致,并且能够加倍的提高效率。很多医生和科学家都认为,对于个人的身心健康来说,最具影响力的不是我们的血管状况,而是我们的人生态度。
「八福是一种自我存在的态度」
进深研究
彼前二21;太十一29;约十三15;来十二2
1. 耶稣除了阐释这些态度外,还做了什么?
2. 我们应该有什么样的生命
祈祷
亲爱的天父,求您帮助我遵从您的命令,并且「穿上主耶稣基督的样式」。求您让我看到如何能够拥有他那「美丽的态度」,让我可以圆满和丰盛地生活。阿们。
The Beatitudes
"The beautiful attitudes"
Bible reading:
Romans 13:7-14
7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
9 The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not covet,"[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b]
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.[c]
Message
We continue considering on the fact that are the finest prescription for mental and spiritual health that has ever been given. It is helpful to keep in mind at this stage in our meditations that are be-attitudes, not do-attitudes; the doing comes out of the being. Some ministers and commentators refer to them as "the beautiful attitudes" - a description I find greatly appealing.
Our attitudes have a tremendous and powerful influence upon every part of our being - physical as well as emotional. A missionary from the Philippines tells how, during the war, he and his wife were ordered into prison camps by the Japanese, and were instructed that they could take with them all they could carry in their suitcases and no more. His wife, weighing just over 100 pounds, and not at all strong, carried a load of 200 pounds, mostly tinned food, a distance of five miles - a load neither of them could even lift after they arrived. Mannheim, a famous scientist, says that we normally use about one-eighth of our physical reserves, and that these reserves are only called upon when we employ the right attitudes.
If our attitudes can help tap hidden physical reserves, then think of what our experience can be if we adopt the "beautiful attitudes" which our Lord expounds for us in His Sermon on the Mount. We can maximise our potential and multiply our effectiveness, not only in the physical area of our being, but in our mental and emotional areas also. Many doctors and scientists agree that it is not our arteries but our attitudes which have the biggest say in our personal well- being.
"The Beatitudes are be-atitudes"
Prayer
Loving heavenly Father, help me to do as Your Word commands and "clothe myself with the Lord Jesus Christ". Show me how to have His attitudes the "beautiful attitudes" - so that I might live fully and abundantly. Amen.
Further study
1 Peter 2:21
Matthew 11:29
John 13:15
Hebrews 12:2
1. What did Jesus do besides expounding these attitudes?
2. How should our lives be?
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