Your Integrity Shows Your Faithfulness
你的正直彰显你的忠心
Jun 28, 2017
“Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones” (Luke 16:10 TEV).
“人在最小的事上忠心,在大事上也忠心;在最小的事上不义,在大事上也不义。”(路16:10 和修)
A common saying today is that “what you do in your private life is nobody’s business.” Well, it actually is. What you do in your private life — behind closed doors or out of view of other people — builds and reveals your true character. And God sees it just as clearly as the things you do in public.
今天有这么一句谚语“我的私人生活与你无关。”好吧,的确是这样。你的私人生活————在关门之后或者别人看不见的地方————建立并且暴露你真正的性格。但是上帝会比你在公众场合做的事情更清楚的看到。
In fact, the small things you do that are unseen are the seeds to God’s public blessing on your life. You cannot compartmentalize your life and say, “I have integrity in my public life, just not in my private life.” I bet you could make a list right now of public figures who have tried to live their lives this way only to have their private indiscretions become this week’s public scandal and their personal downfall. No matter what they say, any leader who is not faithful in small matters will not be faithful in large matters.
事实上,那些你在看不见的小事上所做的,都是上帝对你生命公开祝福的种子。你不能将你的生命区分开,说:“我在别人看来很正直,只是我私人生活不这样。”我可以断定,你立刻就能列出一张公众人物的清单,就是那些试过上自己的生活,这只会让他们生活轻佻、成为公众丑闻以及垮台。不管他们怎么说,任何一位不在小事上忠心的领导人都不会在大事上忠心。
Jesus says, “If you have not been faithful with that which belongs to someone else, who will give you what belongs to you?” (Luke 16:12 TEV)
耶稣说:“如果你们在别人的东西上不忠心,谁还把你们自己的东西给你们呢?”(路16:12 和修)
For centuries, everybody who learned a skill, trade, or vocation learned it through an apprenticeship. If you were going to be a mechanic, you apprenticed to another mechanic and served in his or her business before you started your own.
几个世纪以来,每个人学会一项技能,行业或者职业,通过学徒的身份学习。如果你想成为一个技工,在你开始自己的事业前,你要在别的技工手下学徒,并且服侍他/她的工作。
This principle of apprenticeship applies to every area of your life. It applies to how you handle other people’s money, how you handle other people’s possessions, and even how you handle other people’s ministry before God gives you your own.
学徒的原则可以应用到你生命的每一个角落。它可以应用在你如何处理别人的金钱,你如何处理别人的财务,甚至你如何处理别人的事工,在上帝给你这些以前。
Before God gave me my own ministry, I served as a youth pastor under another man’s ministry. God was watching how I handled it; he was testing my integrity. I needed to prove my faithfulness in that ministry before God would allow me to lead the ministry of Saddleback Church.
在上你给我我自己的事工之前,我像一个年轻牧师一样去参加别人事工的服侍。上帝在看我做的怎么样;他考验我的正直。在上帝允许我带领马鞍峰教会之前,我需要在我的事工中证明我的忠心。
If someone loans you his car, how well do you take care of it? If a family lets you stay in their house for vacation, do you treat it as well as you treat your own home? God is watching and testing your integrity. And he will reward you accordingly.
如果某人要把他的车借给你,你会如何的照顾它呢?如果一个家庭允许你在家中呆一个假期,你对待这个家会想对待自己的家一样吗?上帝在看你,也在考验你的正直。他会按照你所做的回报你。
Talk It Over
讨论问题
What would change about your life if you thought about God standing next to you, watching how you behave in private?
如果你想到上帝站在你旁边,正在看你的私人行为,你的生活会发生什么变化?
What are the small things God has entrusted to you? How have you shown faithfulness in the care of those things?
上帝赋予你的小事情是什么? 你怎么看待这些事情的忠诚?
How can you know how you should behave in any given situation?
在任何特定情况下,你怎么知道你应该如何表现?