經文: 「祂被掛在木頭上親身擔當了我們的罪，使我們既然在罪上死，就得以在義上活。因祂受的鞭傷，你們便得了醫治。」— (聖經·彼得前書 2章24節)
彼得也重覆保羅所傳的信息：十字架的救贖——「祂被掛在木頭上，親身擔當了我們的罪。」，接著藉著與上帝和好：「使我們既然在罪上死，就得以在義上活。」
從上面那句話，我們得知一個真理，就是基督徒若不向罪死就無法向義活。我們需要聖靈幫助我們，將在耶穌基督裡向罪死，成為生活上的實際，使我們永遠脫離罪惡的轄制，如此我們才能將自己獻給義做器具，並向上帝而活，這段話為羅馬書第六章做了精簡扼要的註解。
讓我們默想彼得所說的與十字架相合：「我們惟有向罪死，才能向義活。」其實這道理並不難體驗。聖靈會教導我們如何在形狀上與十字架的耶穌聯合，也就是憑信心算自己與耶穌同死，然後復活的主住在我們心中，與我們有不間斷的溝通。這需要熱切的禱告和全心的順服，並完全的倒空及捨己與犧牲，如此我們就可與救主合一。
「親愛的主，求祢讓我們每一天都藉著聖靈，更深刻體會住在祢裡面的秘訣，也啟示我們何謂與祢同死、與祢同活，以榮耀天上的父。讓上帝的話銘刻在我們心中，聖靈也在我們心中啟示，明白如今罪的權勢不能再轄制我們，因為聖靈的律已經釋放我們脫離罪的綑綁，現在活的不再是我，乃是耶穌在我裡面活著，聖靈要幫助我們行出上帝的旨意，以榮耀主的聖名。奉主耶穌的聖名，阿們！」
—《神的心意》
作者：慕安德烈
編輯：榮華興
(每日靈修 7月1日)
(圖片版權屬「旌旗教會」所有，在此僅供分享福音用途。)
『 Alive unto Righteousness 』
Scripture: “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness.”— (1 Peter 2:24)
Here we have in the Epistle of Peter the same lessons that Paul has taught us. First, the atonement of the cross: “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body upon the tree.” And then, the fellowship of the cross: “That we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness.”
In this last expression we have the great thought that a Christian cannot live unto righteousness, except as he knows that he has died unto sin. We need the Holy Spirit to make our death to sin in Christ such a reality that we know ourselves to be forever free from its power, and so yield our members to God as instruments of righteousness. The words give us a short summary of the blessed teaching of Romans vi.
Dear Christian, it cost Christ much to bear the cross, and then to yield Himself for it to bear Him. It cost Him much when He cried: “Now is My soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour.”
Let us not imagine that the fellowship of the cross, of which Peter speaks here, “that we, having died to sins, might live unto righteousness,” is easily understood or experienced. It means that the Holy Spirit will teach us what it is to be identified with Christ in His cross. It means that we realize by faith how actually we shared with Christ in His death, and now, as He lives in us, abide in unceasing fellowship with Him, the Crucified One. This costs self-sacrifice; it costs earnest prayer; it costs a whole-hearted surrender to God and His will and the cross of Jesus; it costs abiding in Christ, and unceasing fellowship with Him.
Blessed Lord, discover to us day by day through the Holy Spirit the secret of our life in Thee: “We in Thee, and Thou in us.” Let Thy Spirit reveal to us that as truly as we died in Thee, Thou now livest in us the life that was crucified and now is glorified in heaven. Let Thy Spirit burn the words deep into our hearts. Having died unto sin, and being forever set free from its dominion, let us know that sin can no more regin over us, or have dominion. Let us in the power of Thy redemption yield ourselves unto God as those who are alive from the dead, ready and prepared for all His will.
— God’s Best Secrets by Andrew Murray ( 1 July )
