透過鏡子觀看Looking through the Mirror
[每日靈修] 1/24/2019駱鴻銘編譯
在保羅宣告那奧秘又驚人的應許：「萬事都互相效力，叫愛神的人得益處，就是按他旨意被召的人」（羅八28）的時候，他思考的是目的論（teleology）。他處理的是遠程的目標，而不是近程的目標。這暗示近程目標必須根據遠程目標來判斷。
我們的問題是：我們對未來的認識是模糊不清的。我們所觀看的仍然是一面黯淡的鏡子。不過，我們不是完全缺乏亮光。我們有足夠的光明可以知道，上帝有一個良善的目的，即使我們不知道那個良善的目的是甚麼。
上帝的良善目的給了這個外表虛榮但實際無用的世界最終的答案。信靠上帝良善的目的是敬虔信仰的本質。這就是基督徒為甚麼不至於成為最徹底的悲觀主義者的原因。
我們生活的世界不是偶然造成的。它的開始不是一個意外，它的運作不是一個意外，而它的目的（telos）或目標更不是一個意外。這是我天父的世界，祂的統治不是反覆無常的。只要上帝存在，虛空就明顯是不可能的。
活在神的面光中（在神面前禱告）：
花一些時間思考上帝的善良。祂的善良現在正在以何種具體的方式向你顯明？
進一步研讀：
林前十三12 我們如今彷彿對著鏡子觀看，模糊不清（原文作如同猜謎）；到那時就要面對面了。我如今所知道的有限，到那時就全知道，如同主知道我一樣。
羅八28～29 我們曉得萬事都互相效力，叫愛神的人得益處，就是按祂旨意被召的人。因為祂預先所知道的人，就預先定下效法祂兒子的模樣，使祂兒子在許多弟兄中作長子。
Looking
through the Mirror
When
Paul declared the mysterious and breathtaking promise that “all things work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to
His purpose” (Rom. 8: 28), he was musing in teleology. He was dealing with the
realm of the remote rather than the proximate. This suggests that the proximate
must be judged in light of the remote.
Our
problem is this: We do not yet possess the full light of the remote. We are
still looking in a dark mirror. We are not utterly devoid of light, though. We
have enough light to know that God has a good purpose even when we are ignorant
of that good purpose.
It is
the good purpose of God that gives the final answer to the appearance of vanity
and futility in this world. To trust in the good purpose of God is the very
essence of godly faith. This is why no Christian can be an ultimate pessimist.
The
world in which we live is not a world of chance. Its beginning was not an
accident, its operation is not an accident, and its telos, or goal, is not an
accident. This is my Father’s world and He rules it without caprice. As long as
God exists, vanity is a manifest impossibility.
Coram
Deo
Spend
some time reflecting on the goodness of God. In what specific ways is His
goodness being manifested to you right now?
Passages
for Further Study
1
Corinthians 13:12
Romans
8:28-29
