September 22

"And the Lord said . . . Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift¹ you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not" (Luke 22:31, 32).

Our faith is the center of the target at which God doth shoot when He tries us; and if any other grace shall escape untried, certainly faith shall not. There is no way of piercing faith to its very marrow² like the sticking of the arrow of desertion into it; this finds it out whether it be of the immortals³ or no. Strip it of its armor of conscious enjoyment⁴, and suffer the terrors of the Lord to set themselves in array against it; and that is faith indeed which can escape unhurt from the midst of the attack. Faith must be tried, and seeming desertion is the furnace, heated seven times, into which it might be thrust. Blest the man who can endure the ordeal⁵!--C. H. Spurgeon

Paul said, "I have kept the faith,"(2 Timothy.4:7) but he lost his head! They cut that off, but it didn't touch his faith. He rejoiced in three things--this great Apostle to the Gentiles; he had "fought a good fight," he had "finished his course," he had "kept the faith." What did all the rest amount to? St. Paul won the race; he gained the prize, and he has not only the admiration⁶ of earth today, but the admiration of Heaven. Why do we not act as if it paid to lose all to win Christ? Why are we not loyal to truth as he was? Ah, we haven't his arithmetic. He counted differently from us; we count the things gain that he counted loss. We must have his faith, and keep it if we would wear the same crown. --Selected

九月二十二日

「主又说……撒但想要得着你们，好筛你们，像筛麦子一样。但我巳经为你祈求，叫你不至于失了信心。」（路廿二31~32）

神试验我们的时候，把我们的信心当作射击的箭靶；如果，别的可以免去试验的话，信心是定规免不了试验的。信心最大的试炼乃是被世人遗弃。许多时候神把我们喜乐的甲冑剥去，让我们遭遇一些恐惧战兢的经历，要看我们的信心在试炼中受不受到伤损。眞实的信心能丝毫受不到伤损。－－司布眞

保罗说：「所信的道我已经守住了。」（提后四7）虽然他的头没有守住。人们虽能把他的头斩去，却不能把他的信心斩去。这位外邦人的大使徒自以为乐的有三件事━「那美好的仗我已经打过了。当跑的路我已经跑尽了。所信的道我已经守住了。」其余的一切算甚么呢？他获得了胜利；他赢得了奖赏；他不但在地上得到钦仰，并且在天上得到称赞。为甚么我们不能像他那样将万事当作有损的，为要得着基督呢？为甚么我们不能像他那样忠于眞理呢？啊，这是因为我们没有他的算学。他和我们算得不同；我们算为得着的，他算作有损的。但是如果我们要像他那样得戴冠冕，就必须有他那样的信心，并且像他那样守住信心。－－选

1 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。

2 marrow   

n.骨髓；精华；活力

参考例句：

• It was so cold that he felt frozen to the marrow. 天气太冷了，他感到寒冷刺骨。
• He was tired to the marrow of his bones.他真是累得筋疲力尽了。

3 immortals   

不朽的人物( immortal的名词复数 )； 永生不朽者

参考例句：

• Nobody believes in the myth about human beings becoming immortals. 谁也不相信人能成仙的神话。
• Shakespeare is one of the immortals. 莎士比亚是不朽的人物之一。

4 enjoyment   

n.乐趣；享有；享用

参考例句：

• Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同，我们这次访问更加愉快了。
• After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话，这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。

5 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

6 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。