至于我和我家人,我们必定事奉上帝。 As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

选择与后果 Choices And Consequences


December 28, 2011 — by Bill Crowder
(From: Our daily Bread, http://odb.org/ and http://chinese-odb.org/)

加拉太67 Galatians 6:7

「不要自欺,上帝是慢不得的。人种的是什么,收的也是什么。」 ”Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”

读经: 加拉太61-10Scripture Reading: Galatians 6110

在英国利物浦的国奴隶制度博物中,了世世代代身奴隶及其子女所受到的奴役和迫。因奴隶主的婪,无辜的奴隶付出了可怕的代价。然而,代价不是如此而已。在博物的一面上,刻着美国曾奴隶的人袖,弗雷德里克道格拉斯的名言:「用锁链扣住同伴脚踝的人,最后必现锁链的另一端正在自己的脖子上。」当以不人道的方法待他人,自己就成了灭绝人性的人。
使徒保以另一种方式明了同的道理, 他:「不要自欺,上帝是慢不得的。人种植的是什么,收割的也是什么」(加拉太6章7)。保的警告,要我知道每一都会来后果,当然包括我如何待人。如果我仇恨,那么仇恨所来的是我无法付的。我自己与人疏自己怒、能力受阻,而且无法有效地服事基督。
相反的,我「行善,不可志;若不灰心,到了候就要收成。所以,有了机会,就当向众人行善。」(9-10)WEC

撒下婪仇恨种子,
收割失痛苦;
撒下仁恩慈种子,
       必然收割永生恩福。 Sper

你我今日撒下的种子, 成就明日收割的果

In the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, England, the devastation of generations of enslaved men, women, and children is remembered. The price innocent people have paid for the greed of others is horrific -but theirs is not the only cost. Engraved in a wall of the museum is a profound observation made by Frederick Douglass, former slave and crusader for human rights, which reads, “No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.” In the act of dehumanizing others, we dehumanize ourselves.

The apostle Paul put it another way when he wrote, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). Paul’s words form a stark reminder to us that our choices have consequences - and that includes how we choose to treat others. When we choose to hate, that hate can return to us in the form of consequences that we can never fully prepare for. We can find ourselves alienated from others, angry with ourselves, and hamstrung in our ability to serve Christ effectively.

Instead, let’s choose “not [to] grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap . . . As we have opportunity, let us do good to all” (vv.9-10).


Sowing seeds of greed and hatred

Reaps corruption, loss, and pain;
But if we sow love and kindness,
We will reap eternal gain. —Sper

The seeds we sow today
will determine
the kind of fruit we’ll reap tomorrow.

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