作者:Daniel Ryan Day,美國
翻譯:Jaslyn,新加坡
語音播讀:呂傑,中國
播讀後期製作:龐宏宇,中國
*此文章由雅米事工原創出品,如需轉載,請註明出自「雅米——聽見年輕基督徒的聲音!www.ya-mi.org」
面對生活中的問題,很多時候我都感到無所適從。有時是些無足輕重的小事情,就算做錯了也不會有多嚴重的後果。比如去年聖誕節,我在為家人和朋友準備禮物時,給了自己太多壓力。說真的,就算我送的禮物他們不那麼喜歡又怎麼樣呢?
然而,有些時候我所面對的選擇卻可能能改變我的一生,如果我選擇了錯誤的道路,那我可能會錯過我的命定。
我覺得我們的社會給18到24歲之間的年輕人施加了太多的壓力,似乎他們必須在這個年紀弄清楚他們要做什麼工作以及接下來的人生要怎麼安排。因此我們看到社會上有太多壓力過度的青少年、還沒獲得學位的大學生和年輕人頻繁跳槽(有些30多甚至40歲還在跳槽),想要找到答案:我這輩子應該做什麼?
對於基督徒來說,我們內心不單是渴望一份有意義和充實的工作,還渴望尋求上帝對我們生命的旨意,因為我們相信上帝已經為我們的未來有所安排。我們要做什麼工作並不完全取決於我們自己。
但是,如果上帝沒告訴我們祂要我們做什麼呢?如果不論我們怎樣禱告尋求,祂依然默不作聲,我們該怎麼辦呢?
這就是我的親身經歷。我曾求上帝告訴我祂對我的命定是什麼。我願意去做任何祂安排的事情——我願意去到任何祂要我去的地方。但上帝卻沉默不語,安靜得就像在驚悚片中有人死亡之前的場景一樣。也許我要死了吧!但我希望不是。
這是上帝對你生命的旨意
因為我找不到這些問題的答案,我開始對上帝感到很失望。你有對上帝失望過嗎?我有過。而且我沮喪到上谷歌搜索這個問題的答案。是的,我真的在谷歌網上打出這一行字:「上帝對我生命的旨意是什麼?」
我打開了一個列出聖經經文的網頁。 在讀了列表中的第一節經文之後,我幾乎要把我的電腦拋出窗外。那是耶利米書29章11節,說的是上帝對我的生命有個計劃。
「我知道上帝有計劃!」我大聲喊著說「問題是祂不告訴我是什麼計劃!」
我讀了列表的下一節經文,帖撒羅尼迦前書4章3節。「上帝的旨意就是要你們成為聖潔,遠避淫行。」什麼? 我尋找了上帝的旨意那麼久,而它一直就在聖經裡!這讓我想知道我還錯過了什麼,是否還有其他什麼呼召。於是我開始查找。
同樣在帖撒羅尼迦前書,5章16-18節,我發現了這節經文:「要常常喜樂。不住地禱告。凡事謝恩。因為這是上帝在基督耶穌裡向你們所定的旨意。」然後我注意到彼得前書2章15節:「因為上帝的旨意原是要你們行善,可以堵住那糊塗無知人的口。」
我越找越多,很快就發現,上帝對我們生命的旨意相當長,甚至讓我開始感到有些不知所措。我怎麼能夠記住所有這些呼召,又該如何去執行呢?
但聖靈卻用耶穌給跟隨祂的人的應許來提醒我:「凡勞苦擔重擔的人,可以到我這裡來,我就使你們得安息。我心裡柔和謙卑,你們當負我的軛,學我的樣式,這樣,你們心裡就必得享安息。因為我的軛是容易的,我的擔子是輕省的。」(馬太福音11章28-30節)。
在耶穌時代,軛是一個放置在牛頸上的木條,這樣牛才可以拉動重物。通常,人們會把兩頭牛套在一個軛上,因為這樣它們就可以拉雙倍的重量。
我不知道你怎麼想,但我是不認識任何仍使用軛和牛來運重物的人。所以我喜歡按照我在機場看到的行李牽引車來思考這節經文。你有沒有從飛機窗口往外看過?或者在電影中看到過機場裡的行李車?通常有一輛牽引車,後面託著四五輛裝滿行李箱的行李車。把軛想成是那個牽引車。它的負荷應該很大,對吧?
當我在閱讀聖經並記下上帝對我提出的誡命、期望和呼召時,我感到就像是在行李車上添加一個個新的行李箱。當我完成的時候,我後面拖了很多行李車,而且他們都裝滿了上帝對我一生具體而特別的旨意。真是非常重的一輛車。
但是耶穌說,祂的軛——所有因著跟隨祂所帶來的責任和期望,應該是輕省的。所以,如果我因為跟隨上帝而感到有負擔,那證明一定有什麼出了問題。
最大的呼召
實際上,耶穌給了我們一個簡化版的呼召。祂說:「你要盡心,盡性,盡意,愛主你的上帝。這是誡命中的第一,且是最大的。其次也相仿,就是要愛人如己。這兩條誡命,是律法和先知一切道理的總綱。」(馬太福音22章37-40節)
我認為在這段經文中耶穌不僅告訴了我們最大的誡命,也概述了祂給我們最大的呼召。首先,上帝要我們與祂建立關係。我們不用再記著所有該做或不該做的事,如拖車拖著重重的行李一樣。耶穌基督把摩西律法的沉重負擔從我們身上挪去了,並給我們的人生目的做了簡單的總結。
這個目的是什麼呢?是簡單的五個字:愛上帝、愛人。這也是上帝給你最大的呼召。如果你不記得別的,至少也要記住這個真理:上帝呼召你,也是祂給你的命定就是盡心,盡性,盡意,愛主你的上帝,並要愛人如己。
There have been so many times in my life when I didn’t know what to do. Sometimes, those moments were silly, and getting the answer wrong didn’t have significant consequences. Like this past Christmas, when I got way too stressed out trying to figure out the perfect Christmas present for every person on my gift list. I mean, really. What’s the worst that could happen?
But there have been other moments when I felt like the decision I faced was life-changing, and if I chose the wrong road, it could mean missing out on what I was supposed to do with my life.
I think my culture places a lot of pressure on young adults to figure out the rest of their lives when they are between the ages of 18 and 24—especially when it relates to choosing an occupation. As a result, we are left with over-stressed teenagers, degree-less college students, and young adults (some in their 30s and 40s even) who bounce from job to job trying to figure out the answer to the question: What am I supposed to do with my life?
For Christians, there’s a deeper longing within us than just the desire for a purposeful and fulfilling occupation: Christians are also searching for God’s will for their lives, because we believe that God should have something to say about our future. We think the choice of a job is not fully up to us.
But what if God never tells us what He wants us to do? What are we supposed to do if God seems eerily silent whenever we ask Him to tell us what He wants for our lives?
That’s how it was for me. I begged God to tell me His will for my life. I was willing to do whatever He wanted me to do; I was willing to move wherever He wanted me to move. But He was quiet—too quiet. Just like the foreboding scene in a thriller movie that comes right before someone dies. Maybe I’m going to die. I hope not.
This is God’s Will For Your Life
Because I couldn’t find the answers to these questions, I became frustrated with God. Have you ever been frustrated with God before? Well, I was. In fact, I got so frustrated that I Googled it—yes, I actually Googled, 「What is God’s will for my life?」
I landed on a webpage with a list of Scripture passages. After reading the first verse on the list, I nearly threw my computer out of the window. It was Jeremiah 29:11, which said that God had a plan for my life.
「I know God has a plan!」 I yelled out loud. 「The problem is that He won’t tell me what it is!」
I read the next verse listed, 1 Thessalonians 4:3. 「For this is the will of God, your sanctification.」 What?! I had been searching for the will of God for I-don’t-know-how-long, and it was right here in the Bible the entire time! It made me wonder what else I』d missed, and what other callings might exist. I started searching.
Later in that same book, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, I found this verse: 「Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.」 And then I noticed 1 Peter 2:15: 「For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.」
The more I searched, the more I found, and I soon discovered that the description of God’s will for our lives was quite long—super long. So long, in fact, that I started to feel overwhelmed by the call of God. How could I remember, much less do all of these things?
But then the Holy Spirit reminded me of a promise that Jesus made to all who would follow Him: 「Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light」 (Matthew 11:28-30).
During Jesus』 time, a yoke was a wooden bar that was placed on the neck of an ox, allowing it to pull a heavy load. Often, two oxen were yoked together so they could pull twice as much.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t know anyone who still uses a yoke and oxen to pull heavy loads. So I like to think of this verse in light of the baggage tractors I see at airports. Have you ever looked out of a plane window—or watched a movie that takes place at an airport—and noticed the baggage trains? Usually there’s a tractor followed by four or five baggage cars full of suitcases. Think of a yoke as one of those tractors. It’s got to be a pretty heavy load, right?
As I was reading through Scripture and taking note of the many commandments, expectations, and callings that God had for me, it was like adding a new suitcase to the baggage train. By the time I was finished, I had a lot of baggage cars on my train, and they were all full of the specifics of God’s will for my life. It was a heavy load.
But Jesus said that His yoke—all the responsibilities and expectations of what it means to follow Him—was supposed to be easy and light. So if I am burdened by what it means to follow God, something’s wrong.
The Greatest Calling and the One Like It
The truth is that Jesus simplified our calling for us. He said, 「You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.」 (Matthew 22:37-40)
I think that Jesus not only gave us the greatest commandment, but in this passage, He also outlined what I call the greatest calling. First and foremost, you and I are called to walk in relationship with God. Instead of having to remember a long list of do’s and don’ts—like a long train of baggage cars—Jesus removed the heavy burden of the law of Moses from our shoulders and gave us a simple summary of the purpose of our lives.
What is this purpose? It is simply this: Love God and love others. That is the greatest calling, and if you remember nothing else, I hope you remember this truth: God has called you—and that’s His will for your life—to love Him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.
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