你的信仰對你有用嗎？IsYour Faith Working For You?
作者：Paul Tripp 譯者：駱鴻銘：
當神學生的第一天，我很緊張。我原本希望可以隨時溜出課堂，不會被抓到。所以我在上第一堂課之前就在圖書館裏佔了一個空位。當然，圖書館的位子馬上就被佔滿了，我很快就不是獨自一人了。
坐在我旁邊的兩個學生開始討論起上帝的愛。討論很快變成辯論，然後變成熱烈的爭吵。到最後，第三個學生必須介入，因為那兩個學生實際上是對彼此吼叫，說上帝的愛是什麼樣子。
我希望這只是個噩夢，或者是一齣幽默劇的劇本。但是這就是真實的人生。我回到家，告訴太太，「我想休學，不想唸神學院了，因為如果這就是學完神學的結果，我絲毫沒有興趣。」
究竟發生了什麼事呢？這些基督徒的信仰和他們實際的生活是脫節的，是互相矛盾的。
在我們指著別人，感謝上帝我們不像他們之前，讓我們承認，我們的屬靈生活也同樣是前後不一的。
你明白嗎，宣告自己的信仰，說明我們相信什麼是相對容易的。但是在我們日常生活中遇到實際的狀況時，我們心裏所信的就會受到考驗，也會被曝露出來。
我喜歡希伯來書第十一章所寫的。當上帝向我們描述信心時，祂不是給我們神學院的信仰大綱，而是給我們一系列的故事。
真正的信仰是你如何活出你內心所洋溢出來的信念，而不光是你頭腦相信什麼。
不要誤會我的意思：我喜愛神學，喜歡把聖經當作學問來研究。但是基督信仰的目的是轉化生命，而不是蒐集資料。
當你真心擁抱一套信仰的生活形態，上帝就會把你轉化成一個完全不同的人（見賽五十五）。你的信仰應當把你從充滿荊棘的樹叢，轉化成香柏樹，從歐石南轉變成香桃木。
在我總結希伯來書第十一章的信息時，我鼓勵你：要對你的信仰感到不滿意。
這不是要你對主感到不滿，而是要你尋求一種屬靈上健康的不滿足，認識你現今的光景，並靠著信心認識到你還有什麼成長的可能。
在未來幾天、幾週、幾個月，請繼續回到希伯來書第十一章。把它當作一面鏡子，渴求這些故事裏所描繪的信心。
當我們信心還是軟弱的時候，上帝就愛我們，接納我們，並赦免我們。這是何等的恩典！但是祂也從來沒有停止邀請我們經歷更強健的信心，好徹底地改變我們的人生。
願主賜福，
保羅•區普。
I was
very nervous on my first day as a seminary student. I was hoping that I could
slip in and out without being noticed, so I found an empty table in the library
before my first class.
Of
course, the library filled up, and I wasn't alone for long. Two other students
sat next to me and began to discuss the love of God.
The
discussion soon turned into a debate. Then the debate turned into a heated
argument. By the end, a third student had to intervene because these two guys
were literally screaming at each other about the love of God.
I
wish it was a bad dream, or a comedy routine. But it was real life. I went home
and said to my wife Luella, "I want to drop out of seminary, because if
this is what happens, I'm not interested."
What
was happening? These Christian men had a massive contradiction between the
faith they believed in and the way they lived their life.
Before
we point the finger and thank God that we're not like them, let's admit that we
too have inconsistency in our spiritual lives.
You
see, it's very easy to declare our faith and state what we believe. But when
the rubber meets the road at street-level in our Christianity, that's where our
true faith is tested and exposed.
I
love the way Hebrews 11 is written. When God wants to describe faith to us, he
doesn't provide a seminary outline of beliefs; he gives us a collection of
narratives.
True
faith is about how you live your life out of the overflow of your heart, much
more so than it is about what you believe with your brain.
Don't
get me wrong: I love theology, doctrine, and academic study of the Bible. But
the purpose of the Christian faith is transformation, not information.
When
you embrace a lifestyle of faith, God will transform you from who you are into
someone entirely different (see Isaiah 55). Your faith should transform you
from a thorn bush into a cypress tree, from a brier into myrtle.
As I
conclude this Wednesday's Word series on Hebrews 11, I would encourage you:
please be dissatisfied with your faith.
Don't
be dissatisfied with your Lord. Rather, find a healthy state of spiritual
dissatisfication, knowing where you are right now and what's possible for you
by faith.
In
the days, weeks, months and years to come, keep returning to Hebrews 11. Use it
as a mirror, and hunger for the faith that is described in these stories.
God
loves us, accepts us, and forgives us when we have weak faith. Which is a lot!
But he never stops inviting us to experience a stronger faith that will
radically change our lives.
God
bless,
Paul
Tripp