計算代價：你喜好的悠閒（三）

作真基督徒的代價是甚麼？
他要付上的代價：他對悠閒的喜好。若他定意要在天路上成功地奔跑，他必須經歷苦痛與磨難。他必須每天警醒與謹慎，好像一個戰士在敵人的領土上一樣。不論與何人、在何處，不論是公眾前或私底下，與陌生人或與家人，他必須每天時時刻刻留意自己的行為。他必須謹守他的時間，他的言語，他的脾氣，他的想法，他的想像，他的動機，以及他與生命中所有關係之間的互動。他必須殷勤地禱告、讀經與使用星期天－這都是恩典流通的途徑。

這聽起來很難。真的，再沒有甚麼比宗教（信仰）上的「麻煩」讓我們感到不爽的了。我們恨惡麻煩，我們私底下恨不得可以有一個「替代型」的基督教信仰，只要「接近／差不離」就夠了，而且最好不用我們操任何心。任何需要耗精費神的勞力都與我們心中的潛意識完全抵觸。但是，若不「流淚撒種」，靈魂是無法「歡呼收割」的。將這記下，作為我們賬目中的第三條：作基督徒必須付上的代價－人對悠閒的喜好。

“It will cost a man his love of ease. He must take pains and trouble, if he means to run a successful face towards heaven. He must daily watch and stand his guard, like a soldier on enemy’s ground. He must take heed to his behavior every hour of the day, in every company, and in every place, in public as well as in private, among strangers as well as at home. He must be careful over his time, his tongue, his temper, his thoughts, his imaginations, his motives, his conduct in every relation of life. He must be diligent about his prayers, his Bible-reading, and his use of Sundays, with all their means of grace.

“This also sounds hard. There is nothing we naturally dislike so much as ‘trouble’ about our religion. We hate trouble. We secretly wish we could have a ‘vicarious’ Christianity, and could be good by proxy, and have everything done for us. Anything that requires exertion and labor is entirely against the grain of our hearts. But the soul can have ‘no gains without pains.’ Let us set down that item third in our account. To be a Christian it will cost a man his love of ease.”

反思：對「生於安樂」的基督徒來說，這是一個極大的挑戰。很多時候，對屬靈現狀的「滿足」可能是教會失去見證／力量的最大攔阻。上帝在亞伯拉罕生命中不斷給他挑戰：從住大房子到住帳篷，成為遊牧民族。從離開本族、本鄉，到離開父母，到遷移到相對貧瘠的應許之地（與富庶的約旦河平原相比，都是山地），到獻以撒，從人的角度來說，實在是好像沒有得到可以看得見的好處。可是，因為聖靈的引導，以及因神的恩典而給他的信心，亞伯拉罕跌跌爬爬的走出信心之旅，成為神恩典與應許的見證人。