作者: Burk Parsons 譯者: Maria Marta
基督教是喜樂的宗教。真正的喜樂來自上帝，祂闖進我們內心，征服我們，將我們從永恒的死亡和愁苦中解放出來。上帝賜給我們盼望和喜樂，因為祂藉著所賜給我們的聖靈，把祂的愛澆灌在我們的心裡（羅五5）。喜樂來自上帝，而非來自我們的內心。當我們審視內心，我們只會變得沮喪。唯有當我們把目光投向自身以外的耶穌基督，我們才能擁有喜樂。沒有基督，喜樂不僅難以找到，亦不可能找到。世界孤注一擲地尋找喜樂，但卻在所有錯誤的地方尋找。而我們擁有喜樂，是因為基督尋找我們，發現我們，保守我們。在基督以外，我們不可能有喜樂，因為它不存在。喜樂不是我們所能想象到的。
喜樂並非沒有悲傷，喜樂是聖靈的同在。雖然聖靈使我們的心裡喜樂，祂也經常這樣做-------藉著使我們謙卑，使我們分散對自己的注意力，定睛在基督身上。真喜樂甚至存在於真憂傷之中，真喜樂並非總是意味著我們面掛笑容；它有時意味著我們帶著憂傷痛悔的心，屈膝流淚。司布真（Charles Spurgeon）承認：「我不知道我在何時會比我為罪在十字架的底下哭泣之時更加快樂」。在懺悔和饒恕中必有喜樂，在每日仰望基督，為祂的榮耀而活，而非專注自己，為我們的榮耀而活時必有喜樂。但如果我們每天都活在昨日的恥辱和明天的憂慮之中，我們將永遠無法經歷今天的喜樂。因此，讓我們總要快速奔跑到十字架前，尋找只有基督才能賜予的喜樂，因為試圖在基督以外尋找喜樂，如同試圖尋找沒有太陽的日子。
基督是個多受痛苦，熟悉病患的人，然而祂是為了我們從現在到永遠都能擁有滿足的喜樂。這就是為什麽《西敏小要裡問答》第一問的答案教導我們：「人的主要目的是，榮耀上帝，以祂為樂，直到永遠。」劉易斯（C.S. Lewis）曾說過：「喜樂是一種嚴肅的屬天事物。」 但擁有來自享受上帝的真喜樂，並非只有在天堂上才能經歷到。真喜樂是我們現在就能經歷到的。生命中至大的喜樂就是知道我們的至大喜樂不存在於今生，而是存在於將會到來的那一位身上。我們每一天都生活在未來的盼望中：「他要抹去他們的一切眼淚，不再有死亡，也不再有悲哀、哭號、痛苦，因為先前的事都過去了。」（啟廿一4章新譯本）。當我們看到耶穌基督時，祂會擦幹我們眼中的一切眼淚--------不僅僅是悲傷的淚水，還有喜悅的淚水。不然我們永遠也不可能看見祂。
本文原刊於Tabletalk雜誌2017年二月號 。
Joy
in Christ Alone
by
Burk Parsons
Christianity
is a religion of joy. Real joy comes from God, who has invaded us, conquered
us, and liberated us from eternal death and sadness—who has given us hope and
joy because He has poured out His love within our hearts by the Holy Spirit
whom He has given us (Rom. 5:5). Joy comes from God, not from within. When we
look within, we just get sad. We have joy only when we look outside ourselves
to Christ. Without Christ, joy is not only hard to find, it’s impossible to find.
The world desperately seeks joy, but in all the wrong places. However, our joy
comes because Christ sought us, found us, and keeps us. We cannot have joy
apart from Christ, because it doesn’t exist. Joy is not something we can
conjure up.
Joy
isn’t the absence of sadness—it’s the presence of the Holy Spirit. And although
the Holy Spirit produces joy within us, He often does so by humbling us so that
we would take our eyes off ourselves and fix our eyes on Christ. Real joy
exists even amid real sadness, and real joy doesn’t always mean there’s a smile
on our faces. It sometimes means we are on our knees with tears of repentance.
Charles Spurgeon admitted, “I do not know when I am more perfectly happy than
when I am weeping for sin at the foot of the cross.” Joy comes in repentance
and forgiveness and by daily looking to Christ and living for His glory, not by
looking to self and living for our glory. But if we live each day bearing the
shame of yesterday and the anxieties of tomorrow, we will never experience the
joys of today. So let us always be quick to run to the cross to seek the joy
that only Christ can give, for trying to find joy apart from Christ is like
trying to find day without the sun.
Christ
was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief in order that we might have
fullness of joy, now and forever. This is why the first answer of the
Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches us that “man’s chief end is to glorify
God and to enjoy Him forever.” C.S. Lewis rightly said that “joy is the serious
business of heaven.” But having real joy that comes from enjoying God is not
something we will experience only in heaven. It is what we experience now. For
the greatest joy in this life is to know that our greatest joy is not in this
life but in the one to come. We live each day in light of our hope for the
future, when Christ “will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall
be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for
the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21). And when we see Christ, He will
dry every tear from our eyes—not just our tears of sadness, but our tears of
joy as well. Otherwise, we would never be able to see Him.