Daily Devotion - Dec 25 - ¥q¥¬¯u¨C¤éÆF­×(©]) Evening by Evening

司布真每日靈修(夜) Evening by Evening

十二月二十五日

經文: 筵宴的日子過了，約伯打發人去叫他們自潔。他清早起來，按著他們眾人的數目獻燔祭。因為他說，恐怕我兒子犯了罪，心中棄掉上帝。約伯常常這樣行。（約伯記一：5）

信徒今晚睡覺以前，應當為了自己，效法約伯獻上清晨之祭。在家人的歡聚中，人很容易就墜入罪惡的輕率中，忘記自己作基督徒的品行。這本是不應該的。只是筵樂的日子極少能成為自潔歡樂的日子，反倒常常墮落為不潔之荒宴。純淨聖潔的歡樂如同沐浴在伊甸中的河流。聖潔的感恩應該像憂傷一般的純淨。不幸的是，悲哀常常比歡樂更容易促使靈命成長。信徒啊，你今日犯了甚麼罪嗎？你是否忘記了上帝對你的呼召？你的言談是否充滿了無聊和放蕩的話？承認你的罪，並且快快獻祭吧！被殺羔羊的寶血能除罪污，洗淨無知和疏忽之罪的污穢。聖誕節日的最佳結束方法就是在清潔之泉洗淨自己，使自己煥然一新。信徒啊，每晚都當獻上這祭。能活在祭壇前是尊貴祭司的特權。罪惡雖多，也不至使你絕望。你若親近耶穌並承認自己的過犯，您必將你良心中取死之工作洗淨。

Evening, December 25

Scripture: "And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually."(Job 1:5)

What the patriarch did early in the morning, after the family festivities, it will be well for the believer to do for himself ere he rests tonight. Amid the cheerfulness of household gatherings it is easy to slide into sinful levities, and to forget our avowed character as Christians. It ought not to be so, but so it is, that our days of feasting are very seldom days of sanctified enjoyment, but too frequently degenerate into unhallowed mirth. There is a way of joy as pure and sanctifying as though one bathed in the rivers of Eden: holy gratitude should be quite as purifying an element as grief. Alas! for our poor hearts, that facts prove that the house of mourning is better than the house of feasting. Come, believer, in what have you sinned to-day? Have you been forgetful of your high calling? Have you been even as others in idle words and loose speeches? Then confess the sin, and fly to the sacrifice. The sacrifice sanctifies. The precious blood of the Lamb slain removes the guilt, and purges away the defilement of our sins of ignorance and carelessness. This is the best ending of a Christmas-day—to wash anew in the cleansing fountain. Believer, come to this sacrifice continually; if it be so good to-night, it is good every night. To live at the altar is the privilege of the royal priesthood; to them sin, great as it is, is nevertheless no cause for despair, since they draw near yet again to the sin-atoning victim, and their conscience is purged from dead works.

Gladly I close this festive day,

Grasping the altar's hallow'd horn;

My slips and faults are washed away,

The Lamb has all my trespass borne.


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