真理報二零一一年六月號 ─ 雙語園地

雙語園地

Pride and Subtlety

Vickie Chow

驕傲與微妙

Vickie Chow | 中譯：楊光

It is widely known that pride is a dangerous trap to fall in, even more so when it comes to our faith. I don ’ t know about you, but I hereby confess that I ’ ve had my leg caught in that trap a couple of times. Now, I haven ’ t waved a banner proclaiming the things I do to serve God or commented to my friends how hard I worked on last week ’ s BSF homework. Lately, I ’ ve been more conscious of certain subtle actions that essentially spring from the same attitude. Here ’ s a list of things that I ’ ve caught myself doing:

1. I ’ m too good for the Table of Contents

I don ’ t know about you, but other than Genesis, Revelation, and Psalms, I often cannot get to the passage I want without having to undergo a little trial and error with my page flipping. Normally, in the privacy of my own home, I am indifferent to how long it takes for me to find a passage in the Bible, but during Sunday service, when it comes time to open our Bibles to the scripture reading, I ’ m under a little bit more of a time constraint. I would imagine that the Table of Contents page is included in every Bible for just such a purpose — to facilitate easy page finding — but I cannot bring myself to using this page for fear of others who may notice and think “ She doesn ’ t know where the book of 1 John is Wow. Just wow. ” I realize that the reality of it is more like no one is paying attention to my Bible perusing habits, but it ultimately comes down to my pride. Yes, I think I am too good for an innocent page outlining a list of books in the Bible.

2. The worn in Bible look

Normally, I ’ m one to prefer my belongings to look and remain as pristine as possible, however, with my school textbooks, I prefer the well used and worn in look — the more frayed and crumpled the better, as it exudes the aura of having been subject to late nights of studying. I acknowledge that it may lower its resell value to students taking the course in subsequent years, but it ’ s a sacrifice I ’ m willing to make. I ’ ve recently realized that I may subconsciously do the same with my Bible. It ’ s as if the number of post-it notes that conspicuously protrude from the edges is in direct correlation with how close to God I am. A coffee stain on page 1279 Even better, that tells people you were sacrificing sleep for Bible study.

3. Sounding good during group prayer

I still remember the first time I was asked to pray out loud with a group of people. I think I blacked out a little bit. I ’ ve now gotten better at feeling more comfortable while praying with other people, but I still sometimes catch myself rehearsing my prayer in my head as we make our way around the circle. Instead of truly talking to God, I ’ d be more preoccupied with fishing for the right words and ensuring that I sounded as Godly as possible.

4. There ’ s an app for that

This one ’ s a little more technologically advanced in terms of subtle mediums through which I may “ show off ” my Christianity. I recently downloaded an app onto my iPod touch that contained a gazillion versions of the Bible so that I could be a bit more productive during my bus rides to and from school. My friend, who had recently purchased an iPhone, was sifting through my apps and noticed the one I had for the Bible and asked me where I had downloaded it. The moment she noticed it, I admittedly felt a slight beam of pride, as if the fact that I went through the trouble of downloading the app was an indication of my close relationship with God (albeit the app was free). Plus, it was on the first screen of apps, implying that I read the Bible on my iPod as much as I go on Facebook and check my email (which is too much). Now that truly says a lot about my spiritual maturity.

In Matthew 6 we are warned of not parading around our “ acts of righteousness ” or praying and fasting in front of others for the sake of seeming holier than thou. It ’ s often easy to avoid doing the overtly inappropriate, but it ’ s the subtle things we do that can perilously slip under the radar. Take dieting for example: it ’ s easy to avoid eating that slice of cake or that large chocolate bar, but it ’ s harder to catch bad habits when you ’ re just stealing multiple small bites or you ’ re slowly working your way through a sizable bag of Reese ’ s minis and pretty soon you find you ’ re clawing at the bottom of the bag (true story). Bottom line is, we should only care about what God thinks of our spiritual growth and maturity. After all, only He knows the true state of our relationship with Him, and there ’ s no amount of iPod apps or Facebook status updates that can fool that judgement.

眾所周知，驕傲是一個危險的陷阱，尤其當它涉及到信仰之時。不瞞你說，我承認有好幾次被驕傲絆倒。雖然我沒有揮舞著旗幟宣布我怎樣事奉上帝，或大聲講我怎麼努力地做著上周的查經作業，但我最近發覺到一些更微妙的行動，其根源就是出於相同的驕傲態度。以下我列出了發覺自己做的小動作：

一，我不需要看目錄

不瞞你說，除了創世記、啟示錄和詩篇，我翻頁找其他經文時經常需要一番嘗試與錯誤才可以做到。通常隱蔽在自己家中，我不在乎是否費長時間查找聖經中的一段話，但在主日崇拜時，當需要打開聖經找經文時，時間可就有點緊迫了。我想每一本聖經都包含目錄頁就是為了在這種時刻能方便尋找經文，但我卻怎麼也不能逼自己去查看目錄，生怕別人會注意到，並想，「她連約翰一書在哪兒都不知道？真是不可思議 ! 」實際上，我知道注意我的聖經閱讀習慣的人一個都沒有，但最終這是出於我的驕傲心態。是的，我覺得我並不需要一張無辜的、列出聖經書卷的目錄。

二，用舊的聖經

通常，我喜歡自己的東西一塵不染如嶄新的一樣，但是，我更喜歡的我的課本樣子很舊、傷痕累累，越磨損、越皺巴巴的越好，這樣它散發出經常熬夜複習的氣息。這可能會降低它的轉售價值，但這是我願意做的犧牲。最近，我意識到，我同樣下意識地對待我的聖經。就好像書頁裡夾的即時貼紙條數量與多麼親近上帝有著密切的關聯。第 1279 頁上有咖啡污點？再好不過了，別人會認為你還犧牲睡眠地研究聖經。

三，小組禱告時出口成章

我還記得第一次有人請我放聲帶一組人禱告，我似乎昏過去了。我現在已經不那麼膽怯與其他人一起禱告了，但是，當我們圍著圈開始禱告時，我仍然會發現自己在腦海中排練怎樣禱告。與其真正與上帝對話，我卻更專注於怎樣用詞漂亮，確保我的話語聽起來很虔誠。

四，有一款軟體可以做這個

通過這個技術更先進、微妙的媒介，我仍然可以「炫耀」我的信仰。我最近在我的 iPod Touch 上下載了一個包含著極大數量版本的聖經程式，這樣我可以乘坐公共汽車上下學更有效率。我的朋友最近購買了一個 iPhone ，她在翻看我的 iPod 時當發現了我的聖經程式，問我在哪裡下載的。那一刻因為她注意到了，我感到輕微的自豪，好像我竟然願意下載這個程式，展現了我與上帝的關係有多密切（儘管這款應用程式是免費的）。此外，我把程式放在頭版螢幕上，意味著我花讀 iPod 聖經的時間與我上 Facebook 或查電子郵件相同（我上網花的時間其實太多了）。這些都表明了我靈命上有多成熟。

馬太福音六章裡，耶穌警告我們不要炫耀我們做的「善事」，不應在他人面前祈禱和禁食，好似你更聖潔。我們很容易能避免做些不合適的大動作，但我們很容易做些別人察覺不到、很微妙的小動作。例如在減肥時，避免吃一大片蛋糕或一大塊巧克力很容易，但經常一小口一小口偷吃，或者慢慢把一袋 Reese ’ s 巧克力糖消滅掉，很快就會發現只能在袋子裡空抓（真實故事）。總之，我們應該只在乎上帝怎樣看我們的心靈成長和成熟度，因為畢竟只有祂知道我們與祂的關係的真正狀態，那是多少個 iPod 應用程式或 Facebook 狀態更新，都不可能擾亂的判斷。

An Ode of Thanksgiving

Francis Loo | English translation by Iris Lo

感恩頌

盧國禮

God ’ s Creation
Lord, thank you for creating the heavens and the earth,
Lord, thank you for creating man and woman,
Lord, thank you for assigning seasons,
Lord, thank you for winter ’ s chill,
Lord, thank you for the freshness of spring,
Lord, thank you for summer ’ s green,
Lord, thank you for the leaves of autumn,
Lord, thank you for the birds of the air,
Lord, thank you for the fish in the sea.

God ’ s Attributes
Lord, thank you, you are slow to anger,
Lord, thank you, you are compassionate and true,
Lord, thank you, you are righteous and just,
Lord, thank you, you act in justice.

God ’ s Covenant
Lord, thank you for your promise to save,
Lord, thank you for your pillar of cloud by day,
Lord, thank you for your pillar of fire by night,
Lord, thank you for our daily bread,
Lord, thank you for providing just what we need,
Lord, thank you for never letting us lack,
Lord, thank you that I am neither rich nor poor.

God ’ s Providence
Lord, thank you for the Ten Commandments,
Lord, thank you for not forsaking me,
Lord, thank you for not destroying me,
Lord, thank you for your constant care,
Lord, thank you for the calling of the prophets,
Lord, thank you for your discipline,
Lord, thank you for giving me family,
Lord, thank you for giving me health,
Lord, thank you for giving me a church family,
Lord, thank you for giving me fellowship.

God ’ s Protection
Lord, thank you for interceding for me,
Lord, thank you for pleading on my behalf,
Lord, thank you for your bountiful grace,
Lord, thank you for acting in righteousness,
Lord, thank you for constantly protecting me,
Lord, thank you for your salvation.

Praying to God
Lord, thank you for answered prayers.
Lord, thank you for building me up.
Lord, thank you for awakening my soul.
Lord, thank you for giving me understanding.
Lord, thank you for guiding me on the path of righteousness.
Lord, thank you for teaching me contentment.
Lord, thank you for your presence.
Lord, thank you for the overflowing cup of blessing.
Lord, thank you for a taste of your grace.
Lord, thank you for the ceasing of strife.
Lord, thank you for my revival.
Lord, thank you for strength upon strength.
Lord, thank you for grace upon grace.

Thirsting for Truth
Lord, thank you, I thirst for You.
Lord, thank you, I adore You.
Lord, thank you, I think of You.
Lord, thank you, I meditate upon You.

God ’ s Salvation
Lord, thank you for your wonderful acts.
Lord, thank you for your love and forgiveness.
Lord, thank you for your mercy and grace.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

神的創造
神啊！感謝你，創造天地。
神啊！感謝你，造男造女。
神啊！感謝你，定下節令。
神啊！感謝你，冬季嚴寒。
神啊！感謝你，春和景明。
神啊！感謝你，夏樹蒼翠。
神啊！感謝你，秋風紅葉。
神啊！感謝你，空中飛鳥。
神啊！感謝你，海裏有魚。

神的屬性
神啊！感謝你，不易發怒。
神啊！感謝你，慈愛誠實。
神啊！感謝你，公義公平。
神啊！感謝你，作事公義。

神的立約
神啊！感謝你，應許拯救。
神啊！感謝你，日間雲柱。
神啊！感謝你，夜間火柱。
神啊！感謝你，每日食糧。
神啊！感謝你，多收沒餘。
神啊！感謝你，少收沒缺。
神啊！感謝你，不窮不富。

神的照管
神啊！感謝你，頒佈十誡。
神啊！感謝你，不撇下我。
神啊！感謝你，不滅絕我。
神啊！感謝你，時常看顧。
神啊！感謝你，興起先知。
神啊！感謝你，訓誨責備。
神啊！感謝你，賜我家庭。
神啊！感謝你，賜我建康。
神啊！感謝你，賜我教會。
神啊！感謝你，賜我團契。

神的保守
神啊！感謝你，為我伸冤。
神啊！感謝你，為我辨屈。
神啊！感謝你，厚恩待我。
神啊！感謝你，作事公正。
神啊！感謝你，常保佑我。
神啊！感謝你，施行拯救。

向神祈禱
神啊！感謝你，應允祈禱，
神啊！感謝你，蒙主建立，
神啊！感謝你，甦醒靈魂，
神啊！感謝你，賜我悟性，
神啊！感謝你，引導義路，
神啊！感謝你，使我知足，
神啊！感謝你，與我同在，
神啊！感謝你，福杯滿溢，
神啊！感謝你，主恩滋味，
神啊！感謝你，止息分爭，
神啊！感謝你，使我復興，
神啊！感謝你，力上加力，
神啊！感謝你，恩上加恩。

渴慕真理
神啊！感謝你，我渴想你，
神啊！感謝你，我仰慕你，
神啊！感謝你，我記念你，
神啊！感謝你，我思想你。

神的救恩
神啊！感謝你，奇妙作為，
神啊！感謝你，饒恕慈愛，
神啊！感謝你，憐憫恩典。
奉主耶穌基督的名祈禱，阿們。

Pride and Subtlety

Vickie Chow

驕 傲 與 微 妙

Vickie Chow | 中 譯 ： 楊 光

An Ode of Thanksgiving

Francis Loo | English translation by Iris Lo

感 恩 頌

盧 國 禮

驕傲與微妙

Vickie Chow | 中譯：楊光

感恩頌

盧國禮