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哥林多后书：1：21-22：21那在基督里坚固我们和你们，并且膏我们的就是神。22他又用印印了我们，并赐圣灵在我们心里作凭据（原文作质）。
我如何确定将来的某天我一定会去天堂呢？有时候我感觉自己把一切都搞的一团混乱。就像爬山一样，向上爬了一步，然后后退了两步，有时我刚为某个罪悔改，然后就又再次犯了。有时候我感觉自己毫无希望。我的信心在哪里？
这里保罗提醒我，重要的不是我做成什么或没有做成什么；而是上帝在我的里面为我做了什么。他在基督里坚固了我们，他将我们的脚稳稳的站立在坚固的磐石上，这磐石就是耶稣基督的救恩。
他膏了我们。这是什么意思？耶稣受洗的时候，父用圣灵和能力膏抹他。在圣经的有些经文里，圣灵被称作“喜乐油。”当上帝带领你相信耶稣的时候，他同时将圣灵安放在你的身上和你的心里。圣灵一直在你心里工作，即使在你认为自己失败的时候。当你又倒退回到过去的生活方式，为什么你会感到如此的担忧呢？为什么你会如此在乎你的信心，你的盼望？那是圣灵在你里面工作，驱使你回到神的话语中，回到耶稣那里。
保罗称圣灵是上帝印在我们身上的“印记”（同时参见以弗所书1:14）。圣灵是上帝的印记，标志着你是属于他的。这有些类似于在牛身上打上烙印，好让人知道这头牛是属于哪个牧场的。上帝亲自用圣灵为你打上了标记。我们的盼望不在于我们是多么悔改，也不在于我们的信心有多坚固；而在于这样的事实，上帝已经宣称我们是属于他自己的，而且他永远不会放弃我们。
祷告：主啊，谢谢你将圣灵赐给我，并将我标记为是属于你自己的。让我的心充满欢喜快乐，驱散我心里所有的忧愁和绝望！我知道我自己的努力无法让我得救，我得救单单依靠你大能的恩典。我是你的，你也是我的！阿们。
2 Corinthians 1: 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
But how can I be sure that I will go to heaven someday? Somedays I feel messed up beyond imagination. Somedays I take two steps forward and then slip halfway down the mountain of repentance that I am climbing. Somedays I feel as if I have no hope at all. Where is my faith?
Here Paul reminds me it is not what I am doing or failing to do that matters, but what God is doing in me and for me. He is the one who establishes us in Christ, who sets our feet upon the Rock that is our salvation.
He has anointed us. What does that mean? At Jesus’ baptism, he was anointed with the HolySpirit and with power. In other places, the Holy Spirit is called the “oil of joy and gladness.” When God brought you to faith in Jesus, he placed his Holy Spirit on you and in you. The Spirit is working in you all the time, EVEN WHEN YOU THINK YOU ARE FAILING. Why does it bother you so much that you slipped back into your old ways? Why are you concerned about your faith, your hope? That’s the Holy Spirit working in you, driving you back into God’s Word, back to Jesus.
Paul calls the Holy Spirit the “seal” that God placed on us (see also Ephesians 1:14). The Holy Spirit is God’s seal, which marks you as his own. It’s like the cattle brand out west that marks a cow belonging to a certain ranch. God has sealed you, branded you, with his Holy Spirit. Our hope is not b how repentant we are or how strong our faith is, but in the fact that God has claimed us as his own and will not let us go.
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for giving me your Holy Spirit and marking me as you own! Fill my heart with joy and gladness and chase away all gloom and despair! I know that is not my efforts which save me, but your powerful grace alone. I am yours, and you are mine! Amen.