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哥林多前书：4：14-17: 14我写这话，不是叫你们羞愧，乃是警戒你们，好像我所亲爱的儿女一样。15你们学基督的，师傅虽有一万，为父的却是不多，因我在基督耶稣里用福音生了你们。16所以，我求你们效法我。17因此我已打发提摩太到你们那里去；他在主里面，是我所亲爱、有忠心的儿子。他必提醒你们，记念我在基督里怎样行事，在各处各教会中怎样教导人。
我不得不承认今天早晨读到保罗的这些话让我浑身颤抖。他对哥林多人讲话就像一个父亲对自己属灵上的孩子在讲话。他敦促他们效法他自己。他这样做是在提醒我们，在我们所有的呼召中，我们应该像耶稣那样，不要害怕为别人树立榜样，让他人效法。对于我来说，无论作为牧师、丈夫、父亲、还是邻居，这对我都是一个提醒。
保罗的话让我颤抖，因为我想起了自己的种种言行并没能在我的生命中反映出基督的形象。今天早晨我在一本每日灵修的书籍中读到以下这些话：“我希望我能一直恨恶上帝所恨恶的一切，但我做不到。我希望我一直喜爱行正确的事，但我做不到。我希望我从来不认为自己的道路高过主的道路，但我没能做到。我希望我和罪的争战已经结束了，但实际上并没有。”
在灵修的结尾部分他写道：“在与罪的争战中，我们被呼召去摔跤，奔跑，战斗和祈祷吗？答案是肯定的。但我们的盼望不在于自己有能力去做这些事，而在于上帝的恩典。上帝会和罪争战，直至罪完全消失。上帝永不疲倦，永不气馁，永不放弃。”当我想到保罗，我常常想到《罗马书》第7章，在这里他充满激情地讲述他有罪本性的邪恶。他谈到了一场每天都在激烈进行的争战，他知道只有靠着基督才能得胜。我祷告自己不仅仅被当作一个“好人”，而是一个每天都和罪争战的人，一个单单信靠上帝恩典的人。
祷告：主耶稣，你和你的灵住在我的里面。你宣称我是属于你的。请让我成为别人的榜样，这样他们会明白一个靠着你恩典的大能与罪争战的人，永远也不会失败。阿们。
1 Corinthians 4: 14 I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my dear children. 15 Indeed, even if you would have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you would not have many fathers. I say this, because in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 I urge you, therefore, be imitators of me. 17 That is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is my dearly loved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
I have to confess that these words from Paul make me tremble this morning. He speaks like a father to the Corinthians, who were his spiritual children. He urges them to be imitators of himself. In doing so he reminds us that in all of our callings, we should be like Jesus and not be afraid to set our lives as an example for others to follow. That applies to me as a pastor, as a husband, as a father, as a neighbor, and the like.
Paul’s words make me tremble because I think of all the ways in which I do not and have not reflected Christ in my life. I read this in my daily devotional book from Paul David Tripp this morning. “I wish I could say that all the time and in every way I hate what God hates, but I don’t. I wish I could say that I always love to do what is right, but I don’t. I wish I could say that I never think that my way is better than God’s way, but I can’t. I wish I could say that my war with sin is over, but it is not.”
Then, at the end of his devotion, he writes, “In our battle with sin, are we called to wrestle, run, fight, and pray? Yes we are, but our hope is not in our ability to do these things, but in the God of grace, who will war with sin until sin is no more. He never grows tired, never gets frustrated, and never gives up.” When I think of Paul, I often think of Romans 7, where he spoke so passionately about the evil of his sinful nature. He spoke of a struggle that raged every day, a struggle in which he knew he had the victory through Jesus Christ. I pray that I will not be remembered as a “good guy,” but as a man who struggle daily against sin and trusted in the grace of God alone.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you dwell in me with your Spirit. You have claimed me to be your own. Make me an example to others so that they may see that someone who struggles with sin by the power of your grace never loses. Amen.