回應上帝的呼召Responding to God’s Call
[每日靈修] 10/25/2018, 駱鴻銘編譯
我們在每天的生活中都需要順服許多會限制我們自由的權柄：從父母到交通警察，再到捕狗人。所有的權柄都應得到尊重和尊榮，正如聖經所宣稱的那樣。但只有一個權柄擁有本身固有的權利，可以約束人的良心。惟有上帝才能給人絕對的義務，並且是藉由祂聖潔的說話聲來施予。
藉著神聖的諭令，祂呼召世界，使它存在。祂呼召死去的、身體正在腐爛的拉撒路從死裏復活。祂稱那些本不屬於祂子民的人為「我的民」。祂把我們從黑暗中召喚出來，進入光明。祂有效地呼召我們得著救贖。祂召喚我們服事祂。
我們的召命（vocation；或譯為「天職」）之所以會如此命名，是因為它的拉丁文字根vacatio，意思是「召喚」。「選擇天職」（vocational choice）一詞與「基督徒」一詞是矛盾的。可以肯定的是，我們確實作了選擇，並且事實上可以選擇不服從它。但是先於我們的選擇，並且以絕對的權力運行在這種選擇之上的，是神聖的呼召，這是一種強制執行的、我們不敢逃脫的責任。
正是這個天職驅使約拿搭上逃往他施的船隻，並使受驚的船員將他丟到大海中，以平息報復性的暴風雨。這個召命使保羅發出痛苦的吶喊，「若不傳福音，我便有禍了」（林前九16）。在耶穌手中放了可怕苦杯的，正是這個召命。
上帝的呼召並非總是令人嚮往，它在這世上的成果往往苦樂參半。然而，上帝按照我們的恩賜和才幹呼召我們，引導我們走上對祂國度最有用的事奉之路。如果約拿成功地抵達他施，如果保羅拒絕傳道，如果耶利米真的放棄了他作先知的職分，或耶穌禮貌地拒絕了那苦杯，我們將會變得何等貧窮啊！
活在神的面光中（在神面前禱告）：
想一想......如果你沒有回應上帝的呼召，那麼該給這些靈命損失貼上什麼標籤呢？
進一步研讀：
(1Co
9:16) 我傳福音原沒有可誇的，因為我是不得已的。若不傳福音，我便有禍了。
林後十15～16 我們不仗著別人所勞碌的，分外誇口；但指望你們信心增長的時候，所量給我們的界限，就可以因著你們更加開展， 得以將福音傳到你們以外的地方；並不是在別人界限之內，藉著他現成的事誇口。
羅十五20 我立了志向，不在基督的名被稱過的地方傳福音，免得建造在別人的根基上。
腓一17 那一等傳基督是出於結黨，並不誠實，意思要加增我捆鎖的苦楚。
Responding to God’s Call
We
live in daily submission to a host of authorities who circumscribe our freedom:
from parents to traffic police officers to dog catchers. All authorities are to
be respected and, as the Bible declares, honored. But only one authority has
the intrinsic right to bind the conscience. God alone imposes absolute
obligation, and He does it by the power of His holy voice.
He
calls the world into existence by divine imperative, by holy fiat. He calls the
dead and rotting Lazarus to life again. He calls people who were no people “My
people.” He calls us out of darkness and into light. He effectually calls us to
redemption. He calls us to service.
Our
vocation is so named because of its Latin root vocatio, “a calling.” The term
vocational choice is a contradiction in terms to the Christian. To be sure, we
do choose it and can, in fact, choose to disobey it. But prior to the choice
and hovering with absolute power over it is the divine summons, the imposition
to duty from which we dare not flee.
It
was vocation that drove Jonah on his flight to Tarshish and caused his
terrified shipmates to dump him in the sea to still the vengeful tempest. It
was vocation that elicited the anguished cry from Paul, “Woe is me if I do not
preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16). It was vocation that put a heinous cup of
bitterness in the hands of Jesus.
The
call of God is not always to a glamorous vocation, and its fruit in this world
is often bittersweet. Yet God calls us according to our gifts and talents, and
directs us to paths of the most useful service to His kingdom. How impoverished
we would be if Jonah had made it to Tarshish, if Paul had refused to preach, if
Jeremiah really had turned in his prophet’s card, or if Jesus had politely
declined the cup.
Coram
Deo
Think
about it … what will be the tab of spiritual losses if you do not respond to
God’s call?
Passages
for Further Study
2
Corinthians 10:15–16
Romans
15:20
Philippians
1:17