Spiritual Thought for the Week 2008/11/23

Spiritual Thought for the Week
Last week in the pulpit I talked about the gift of giving. This week let us explore this gift deeper in light of Abraham’s story.
“I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because your have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.”(Genesis 22:16-17)
When God tested Abraham by asking him to offer Isaac up as a sacrifice, He was giving out a test as well as a great revelation. He foretold He would give his only begotten son to sacrifice for our sake and at the same time He expected us to do the same for Him. He did not want blemished or second best offering. He wanted only the best and the dearest ones from our hearts. He wanted to know if we would be willing to give up our most dearly beloved persons or things to Him. God did not just pick anyone to test. He let only those who loved Him, respected Him and belonged to Him to take the test. When God had favour on a certain person, He chose him to take the test so that he had a chance to show his love and affection to God.
The offering of Abraham’s only son is an example to show that human beings can give to God. And they should give to an extant like Abraham. Some believers think themselves as doing God a great favour by giving or sacrificing some little things that they have. In fact this is not giving God the honour due Him. God deserves our total love, our total surrender, our total giving. No matter how much we give, it is still not enough compared to what God gives us. Some believers give little to God but expect God to give them much in return. No matter how much God gives them in return they say God is not giving them enough. They say God owe them much. This is not only foolish but also ungrateful.
When Abraham gave, he never expected God to give him much in return. Nevertheless eventually he got rewards more than hundreds of thousands of times pay off. By willingness to give up one son, he got descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Therefore, let us not be afraid to give God too much, too expensive, too dear a sacrifice. God will never under pay us. Let us give of our time, energy, will, mind and everything dear in our life. As long as it makes God happy we will give it to God. Do you have anything so precious or anyone so dear that you can not let go and offer them to God? You need to give them up now! You need to do it today.


本周默想分享
上週講道我提到甘心奉獻本身就是一種恩賜。本週讓我們再從亞伯拉罕甘心奉獻的事蹟，得到蒙福的亮光。
“耶和華說，你既行這事，不留下你的兒子。就是你獨生的兒子，我便指著自己起誓說，論福，我必賜大福給你，論子孫，我必叫你的子孫多起來。”（創22：16，17）
當神試驗亞伯拉罕，叫他獻上獨生子以撒的時候，是一次極大的試驗，也是一次極大的啟示。這不但預表神將他自己的獨生子為我們捨了，也說明神對信他的人所發出同樣的的要求和期望。他不喜歡不好的，或次好的，乃是喜歡唯一的，上好的，我們最心愛的。他要看人究竟肯不肯，捨不捨得。神這要求不是對隨便一個人的要求，乃是對屬神，敬神，愛神之人才有的要求。神看重那個人，就給他這種試驗和機會好讓他能表現他對神的心意。
亞伯拉罕獻獨生子的事，說明人是可以，而且應當對神奉獻。人要敬愛，順服神到如此地步。有的信徒認為奉獻一點錢，為神做一點事，放棄某些利益，已經是了不起，足夠有餘了。這實在是不尊重神，以為神就值得他們那一點的奉獻，那一點的愛戴。神是值得我們完全的奉獻，完全的愛。獻多少，獻甚麼，都不會太過，而是不夠不足的。可是有些信徒奉獻很少，卻想從神那裏得很多。神給他們幾多都不滿足，好像是神欠了他們的，這不但是太愚昧，也是太忘恩了。
亞伯拉罕在奉獻的時候，雖沒有指望得到神的賞賜和報答，然而結果卻得到千萬倍的賞賜和報答。捨去一個兒子，得到如天上的星星，海邊的沙那樣無數的子孫。所以讓我們不要怕奉獻給神太多，太寶貴，太心愛了。神絕不會虧待愛他的人。讓我們把光陰，精力，意志，理性，以及我們所有寶貴的東西，只要是神所喜歡的都完完全全地獻給他吧。你現在有甚麼東西或心愛的人不肯獻給神嗎？應當立刻擺上，並且在今天行動。