2 questions for we believers

「倘若你今天離開世界，你能肯定你能夠上天堂嗎？」

「倘若看守天堂門口的天使問你：『你憑甚麼叫我讓你進入來天堂？』你會如何回答？」

這並不是我要給你作為基督徒的兩條問題。我想問的，其實是從銷量達二千萬本的《標竿人生（The Purpose-Driven Life）》作者華理克（Rick Warren）牧師在最近接受beliefnet.com的David Kuo的訪問中所發出的：

"One day we're gonna stand before God and he is going to ask two questions. The first question is, "What did you do with my Son Jesus Christ?" Not "What religion were you?" Not what denomination（宗派）, not what background, where did you go to church. We were created for a relationship, not a religion -- not rituals（禮儀）, not rules, not regulations."

不錯，神所關心的，不是我們的宗教或宗派、神學背景或返甚麼教會、崇拜採取甚麼形式的禮儀、或當過那個事奉崗位，神關心的是我跟主耶穌基督的關係到底如何，是在一個怎麼樣的光境。

"Then the second question is, I believe, "What did you do with what you were given?" A lot of people are going to have a hard time explaining to God why they chose their plan instead of His while they were here on earth."

實在佩服華牧師說話的一針見血！我特別喜歡"a hard time explaining"這個phrase，我想像到在審判台前自己和成千上萬自稱怎樣愛神、怎樣愛主的信徒，要列出神的愛時雖然可以滔滔不絕，但當被問及上面這第二條問題的時候，會怎樣變得啞口無言！我要怎樣解釋為甚麼我寧可選擇讀設計文學碩士卻沒有讀道學碩士... 我能說得過去嗎？我又想起週五晚上在團契所聽見的挑戰：假若神給我們像阿伯拉罕般的挑戰，你我又能否帶自己的以撒上山？我們會有阿伯拉罕般的信心、或以撒般的順服嗎？我人生的選擇到底如何與「背著自己十字架跟從耶穌的人」這宣稱相稱？

針對著要活一個「向著標竿直跑」（腓三14）的基督徒人生，華牧師更毫不保留地指出：

"God's goal in life isn't to make me comfortable. He isn't interested in my comfort as he is in my character. This is the grow-up stage. The comfort, the joy, the relief from suffering and pain and all of that is going to come later in eternity, which we are going to enjoy for trillions of years."

Trillions of years的天家生活，比起匆匆數十年勞苦愁煩居多的人生（詩九十10），你會怎樣選擇？