传道书5:18-19 我所见为善为美的，就是人在神赐他一生的日子吃喝，享受日光之下劳碌得来的好处，因为这是他的份。 19 神赐人资财丰富，使他能以吃用，能取自己的份，在他劳碌中喜乐，这乃是神的恩赐。
毕业分别多年的同学相约拜访老师，一坐下，老师高兴地垂问大家生活过得如何。不料，这句话勾出了大家的满腹牢骚，每个人轮流诉说生活的不如意：「工作压力大！家庭烦恼多！做生意的资金套牢！当公务的仕途受阻！…」仿佛大家都成了时代的弃儿。
一阵子的诉苦抱怨，老师看出大家口干舌燥，从橱柜里拿出一大堆杯子，摆在茶几上。各式各样的杯子，瓷器的、玻璃的、塑钢的…，杯子表面有彩绘风景、雕塑图腾、还有纪念图案…，老师提把水壶说：「大家都是我的学生，我不把你们当客人看待了。你们要是渴了，就自己倒水喝吧。」
大家纷纷选了自己看中的杯子倒水喝，留下了一落叠在一起的纸杯，老师拿起一个纸杯说：「你们有没有发现，大家手里的杯子都是最好看、最别致的杯子，而像这纸杯就没人选中它。」当然，还用说？我们都希望自己拿着的是一只好看的杯子。
There is a difference between healthy romance and lurid lust. Lust is a longing for sexual satisfaction outside of a covenant relationship. What is the epicenter for the pandemic of lust? Pornography. Never in the history of the world has it been so easy to look twice where a person has no business looking once. Anyone with unfiltered internet is a click away from images that were inaccessible and unimaginable a few years ago.
Solomon asked, “Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?” (Proverbs 6:27 ESV). Or in our day: can a person view click after click, page after page, image after image of violent, deviant, degrading immorality and not be infected? The answer is no.
希伯来书9:27 按着定命，人人都有一死，死后且有审判。
约翰福音3:16-17 神爱世人，甚至将祂的独生子赐给他们，叫一切信祂的不致灭亡，反得永生。 17 因为神差祂的儿子降世，不是要定世人的罪，乃是要叫世人因祂得救。
有一位军阀每次处决死刑犯时，都会留给犯人最后的机会，选择一枪毙命，或是选择进入侧墙的一扇门。从来没有人知道进入那扇门的命运将如何？因为所有死刑犯都宁可选择一枪毙命，也不愿进入里面不知有何光景的那扇门。
一天，酒酣耳热后，军阀显得很开心。旁人大胆地问他：「大帅，您可不可以告诉我们，从那扇门走进去究竟会有什么结果？」
「没什么啦！其实走进那扇门的人只要踏上几个台阶，便可以顺利地自由离开了。人们不想走进去，只是不敢面对不可知的未来罢了。」军阀回答。
Our quest to manage life by taming thoughts would fail the test of relevancy if we did not discuss lust. To lust is to crave what does not belong to you. Lust and love are not synonyms. Romance is healthy. God wired you to connect deeply, enjoyably, and nakedly to a person of the opposite sex under the canopy of marriage. Ever since Adam saw Eve, the power of sexual attraction has been part of life. God gave sex as a gift—a wedding gift.
“Enjoy the wife you married as a young man! Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose—don’t ever quit taking delight in her body. Never take her love for granted!” (Proverbs 5:19 MSG). Delight in each other!
希伯来书9:27 按着定命，人人都有一死，死后且有审判。
约翰福音3:16-17 神爱世人，甚至将祂的独生子赐给他们，叫一切信祂的不致灭亡，反得永生。 17 因为神差祂的儿子降世，不是要定世人的罪，乃是要叫世人因祂得救。
有一位军阀每次处决死刑犯时，都会留给犯人最后的机会，选择一枪毙命，或是选择进入侧墙的一扇门。从来没有人知道进入那扇门的命运将如何？因为所有死刑犯都宁可选择一枪毙命，也不愿进入里面不知有何光景的那扇门。
一天，酒酣耳热后，军阀显得很开心。旁人大胆地问他：「大帅，您可不可以告诉我们，从那扇门走进去究竟会有什么结果？」
「没什么啦！其实走进那扇门的人只要踏上几个台阶，便可以顺利地自由离开了。人们不想走进去，只是不敢面对不可知的未来罢了。」军阀回答。
It would be folly to think life can be lived with no setbacks. But problems have no more power over us than we allow them to have. Remember, joy is more than a good mood. It is a deep-seated confidence in God’s presence, power, and promises. Joy might feel elusive, and finding it might take a long time. But it always remains an option.
Some of the saddest words in Scripture are recorded in Mark 6:5 (CEB). “[Jesus] was unable to do any miracles there, except that he placed his hands on a few sick people and healed them.” Why was Jesus unable to do the works? The answer is found in the next passage: “He was appalled by their disbelief” (Mark 6:6 CEB).
What a tragic loss! God was in their midst, and they did not seek him. Let’s not make the same mistake.
Assess your joy level. The prophet Jeremiah modeled the vigilance we need. He was nicknamed the “Weeping Prophet” because he was exactly that. His beloved nation had turned from God. But then he remembered the answer for his despair. “This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases” (Lamentations 3:21-22 ESV).
We choose what we remember. So, let’s remember our call to joy. Stay in the present moment. Harvard researchers discovered that unhappy people focus on what is not happening; happy people focus on what is happening. Wasn’t this the point Jesus made in the Sermon on the Mount? “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear” (Matthew 6:25 NIV). Don’t settle for a joyless life!
哥林多前书 12:18-21
但如今，神随自己的意思把肢体俱各安排在身上了。 19 若都是一个肢体，身子在哪里呢？ 20 但如今肢体是多的，身子却是一个。 21 眼不能对手说：「我用不着你。」头也不能对脚说：「我用不着你。」
王先生是一个不苟言笑的人，平常很吝啬给人赞美或掌声。有一天他在家里吃饭，发现有一道烤鸭的鸭子只有一条腿，于是问太太：「为什么这只鸭子只有一只脚？」。太太说：「有什么好奇怪的，我们家的鸭子都只有一只脚呀。」
「我不信，所有鸭子都有两只脚，为什么只有我们家的鸭子比较特别？」「不信，你不会自己到池塘去看。」于是王先生跑到池塘去看他的鸭子。
鸭子正好在睡午觉，因此都缩著一条腿，只用一条腿站立。看过去，好像所有的鸭子真的都只有一条腿。王先生灵机一动，朝鸭子栖息的方向很用力地鼓掌，鼓掌的声音把鸭子都惊醒了，纷纷把缩著的那只脚放了下来。
The first Christians were joyful Christians. The phrase “joyful Christian” is redundant. Do we need the adjective? Ideally, we should not have to put joyful in front of Christian. But we do because we tend to major in contingent joy and not courageous joy. Let’s invite God to deposit unspeakable joy in our hearts.
According to a study from sociologists at Harvard University, joy is contagious, spreading among friends, neighbors, and colleagues like the flu. Joy has a ripple effect. The pursuit of happiness is more than a line in the Declaration of Independence. It is a necessary step in enhancing the happiness of others. Is it time for you to bump up your joy level?
路加福音 19:1-10
耶稣进了耶利哥，正经过的时候， 2 有一个人名叫撒该，做税吏长，是个财主， 3 他要看看耶稣是怎样的人。只因人多，他的身量又矮，所以不得看见。 4 就跑到前头，爬上桑树，要看耶稣，因为耶稣必从那里经过。 5 耶稣到了那里，抬头一看，对他说：「撒该，快下来！今天我必住在你家里。」
在广大的世界里，我们常觉得自己只不过是群众中一个微不足道的小人物罢了。世界的趋势驱使我们除去个人的特质，要我们认同周围的人，而且成为与他们相同的一份子。然而，神却以祂独特的方式来爱我们。
耶稣在前往耶路撒冷的路上，群众蜂拥包围祂，矮小的撒该非得爬上一棵树，才看得到耶稣。撒该原想，只要看最伟大的教师一眼，就心满意足，但耶稣居然停下来，抬头直视他！对他说：「撒该，快下来！今天我必住在你家里。」
南丁格尔(Florence Nightingale)是近代护理学的创始人，但很多人不知道，她其实也是统计学的传奇人物，她是用统计改变世界的护理先锋。
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