Try God

‘Then Peter said to them, “Repent…”’ Acts 2:38 NKJV

A sign on a church notice board read, ‘Try God Week.’ The idea was simple enough: if you try Him for a week and don’t like the results, you can go back to your old life again. Peter didn’t tell the crowd on the Day of Pentecost to try God for a week. He preached, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’ (Acts 2:38–39 NKJV) A fish doesn’t try water; it needs water in order to survive. A plant doesn’t try soil; it needs soil in order to grow. Likewise, you don’t try God; you need God because there’s a void within you only He can fill. And He wants to do more than just come into your life; He wants to take over your life! ‘But I struggle with certain weaknesses,’ you say. The truth is we’re all born with certain proclivities; some are just more obvious than others. That’s why every one of us needs to be ‘born again’. (John 3:3 NIV) As Jesus explained to Nicodemus, although he had a natural birth he needed a spiritual birth to enter God’s Kingdom. Salvation and the guarantee of Heaven take place immediately; all you have to do is put your trust in Christ. But submitting to the lordship of Jesus is a project you’ll be working on from the new birth to the New Jerusalem.

试探神？

于是彼得对他们说：“悔改吧……”使徒行传2:38

在一个教堂的公告栏里写着“试探上帝周”。这个想法很简单：如果你尝试了一个星期，却对结果不满意，那你还可以回到你原来的生活。五旬节的时候，彼得没有告诉群众，要他们试探神一个星期。他传道说：“你们各人要悔改，奉耶稣基督的名受洗，叫你们的罪得赦，就必领受所赐的圣灵；因为这应许是给你们和你们的儿女，并一切在远方的人，就是主我们　神所召来的。”（使徒行传2:38-39）鱼不会试探水，因为它需要水才能生存。植物不会试探土壤，因为它需要土壤来生长。同样地，你也不要试探神；因为你需要神，在你里面有一个只有祂才能填补的空洞。祂不单单希望只是进入你的生活，祂要接管你的生活！你可能会说：“我正和自己的某些软弱做斗争”。事实是，我们每个人天生就有某种癖好，只是有些比另一些更明显，这就是为什么我们每个人都需要“重生”。正如耶稣向尼哥底母解释的，虽然他有肉体的出生，但他需要属灵的出生才能进入神的国。救恩和天上的保障会立时发生，你所要做的就是信靠基督。但是让耶稣在我们的生命中有完全的主权却是从我们重生那一刻开始并一直持续到我们进入新耶路撒冷的大工程！