In Heaven's Way or Ours?

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"...Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God." Acts 5:38,39 "...不要管这些人，任凭他们吧，他们所谋的，所行的，若是出于人，必要败坏。若是出于神，你们就不能败坏他们。恐怕你们倒是攻击神了。"

"Those who follow Heaven are preserved; those who rebel against Heaven perish." Mencius "顺天者存，逆天者亡。" 孟子,高楼句上

When furious Jewish leaders hauled Peter and the apostles into the synagogue, and wanted to kill them, the Pharisee teacher of the law, Gamaliel, wisely urged caution. He reminded them that Theudas had claimed to be great and gathered 400 followers, but after he was killed, his followers had dispersed. Judas of Galilee also gathered followers for a revolt, but was killed, and this too came to nothing. Gamaliel urged the leaders to leave the Christians alone, for if they were not of God, nothing would come of it, but if they were of God--then the Jews would be guilty of fighting God.

Ironically, of the countless militant Jewish revolutionaries came and went, Few left any mark upon history. But Jesus was a revolutionary who refused to fight because the battle is within us, not between us. He entered Jerusalem triumphantly not on a war horse but on a donkey of peace, and he is still changing the world 2,000 years later. As Zechariah 4:6 says, "not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty." [万军之耶和华说，不是倚靠势力，不是倚靠才能，乃是倚靠我的灵，方能成事。 撒迦利亚4:6

When Confucius was detained in Kuang, he said, "As long as Heaven does not let truth perish, what can the people of Kuang do to me?" ["天之未丧斯文也，匡人其如予何"] That was assuming, of course, that Confucius was following Heaven's Way.

A few centuries later, Paul wrote in Romans 8:31. " If God is for us, who can be against us?" "神若帮助我们，谁能抵挡我们呢." 罗马书8:31

Going His Way? What was true for Confucius, or Paul, is true for us today. If we are following our Father's Way, in the long run nothing can stop us. But if we're going our own way, in the long run there is no long run. Even if we appear successful, our brief lives are but writings in the sand at low tide. As James, my favorite New Testament author, wrote,
"Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:13, 14
[你们有话说，今天明天我们要往某城里去，在那里住一年，作买卖得利。其实明天如何，你们还不知道。你们的生命是什么呢。你们原来是一片云雾，出现少时就不见了。 雅各书4:13,14]

Our days are brief; use them well, wisely, and in His Way, not ours.

"Ask not to be used but to be made usable." J.H. Taylor
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