Day 14: That God would fill you

Day 14: That God would fill you with the fruit and evidence of His Spirit at work in your life.

第14天：上帝要用他圣灵在你生命中工作的果子与证据充满你

Galatians 5:22-23

加拉太书5:22-23

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

“圣灵的果子就是仁爱、喜乐、和平、忍耐、恩慈、良善、信实、温柔、节制。这样的事没有律法禁止。”

One of my favorite sermon illustrations is the one about the cookie thief. In short, it’s about a woman sitting in an airport, waiting to board her plane. A few minutes later a man comes over and sits next to her on the bench. Next thing you know, she notices this man reaching into her bag of cookies, casually munching along. He smiles politely, and continues reaching into her bag, consuming her stash of cookies one by one.

我最喜欢的讲道例子之一就是那个偷饼干的人。简言之，是这样的，一个女人坐飞机，正在候机。不一会，一个男人过来，挨着她作者凳子上。接下来发生的你知道了，她注意到这个男人伸手去拿她包里的饼干，若无其事的咀嚼。他很有礼貌的微笑，并且继续往她包里伸手，一个接一个的狂吃掉她的饼干。

Needless to say, the woman is enraged. She aggressively reaches into the cookie bag as well, in an effort to eat the cookies before he has a chance to finish them. Finally, one by one, they both finish off the cookies. She, enraged. He, smiling the whole way through. The nerve of that man, she thinks to herself. How rude can he be to eat half my bag of cookies with that cheesy grin on his face! Her flight is called, and she boards her plane and takes her seat, still fuming. She reaches into her purse to grab something, and to her dismay, she finds HER bag of cookies, completely in-tact. It dawns on her that SHE had been eating HIS bag of cookies. She had been the rude one, all along.

当然，这个女人很愤怒。她带攻击性的也伸手进到饼干包里，在那个男人吃完之前尽力吃那些饼干。最后，一个接一个，他们同时吃完了饼干。她非常愤怒。他，一直都在微笑。这个人神经不正常么？她自己想。他怎么能这么无礼的吃掉我包里的饼干，甚至脸上还挂着无耻的微小！她的登记时间到了，她登机并且坐下来，仍然很恼火。她伸进她的钱包试图抓什么东西，然后她很沮丧，她发现她那包饼干完好无损。原来一开始的时候，她吃的是那个男人包里的饼干。原来一直无礼的人是她。

I share this story with you because so often in relationships, we are the cookie thief. As a professional counselor, and let’s be honest- as  a human being- I see it time and time again in my life and in the lives of others. It’s so easy to fixate, fume, and critique the flaws of others without actually taking inventory of our own. We pray for people and their sins, without having confessed our own shortcomings. We make a list of qualities we want to see in our future spouse, without even having ATTEMPTED to master those qualities in our own life. And then we get into marriage, and a few years into it (let’s get real -  a few days into it) our natural response is then to hone in on the flaws and failures of our spouse, without taking responsibility for our own.

我跟你分享这个故事，因为这在关系中很常见，我们就是偷饼干的人。作为一个专业顾问，让我们像一个正常人一样诚实，我从我自己的生命以及其他人的生活中，一次又一次的看到这样的情况。我们很容易注视、发怒并且批评别人的缺点，这实际上就是我们自己的错误列表。我们为别人的罪祷告，这往往就是我们自己的缺点。我们对我们未来的配偶的品质有一个需求清单，但是却没有让我们自己掌握这些品质。及至我们进入婚姻，几年之后（说实话——哪怕是几天）我们自然反应就是要磨合配偶的失败和缺陷，而不是我们对自己负责任。

But in order to be filled with the fruit of God’s spirit, we must empty ourselves of the “fruit of OUR spirit”. Our flesh. Our failures. Our shortcomings and weaknesses. We must identify where we’re weak and ask God to give us strength. As you’re praying for your love-life today, fix your heart on confession, and the areas in your life in which you need God to fill you with more of Him, and less of you. By God’s grace as you seek to find marriage, seek also to become marriage material.

但是，为了被圣灵的果子充满，我们必须把自己的果子倒空。我们的肉体。我们的失败。我们的缺点和软弱。我们必须认清我们哪里软弱并且求上帝加力量。如同你今天为你的爱情生活祷告一样，从认罪开始修正自己的心，以及那些你生命中更需要上帝来充满的地方，而不是自己更多。借着神的恩典，发现找到爱情，寻找并且找到。

PRAYER: Jesus, thank You that you see all my shortcomings, sin, and weakness, and yet You love me anyway. Help me not to be so fixated on the flaws of others without opening my eyes to my own sin. I confess to You the areas I’m struggling, and I ask that You would give me the motivation to become like You in every single one of those areas. Fill me up with more of You, and less of me.

祷告：耶稣，谢谢你让我们看到我所有的缺点、罪、软弱，并且不论如何你都这么爱我。帮助我不要定睛于别人的瑕疵，而闭着眼看不到自己的罪。我向你承认我正在奋斗的区域，并且我求你在我每一个区域给我动力，变得像你。更多的倒空自己，用更多你的果子充满我，