論到那些已經蒙了光照、嘗過天恩的滋味、又於聖靈有分，
並嘗過 神善道的滋味、覺悟來世權能的人，
若是離棄道理，就不能叫他們從新懊悔了。因為他們把 神的兒子重釘十字架，明明的羞辱祂。
就如一塊田地，吃過屢次下的雨水，生長菜蔬，合乎耕種的人用，就從 神得福；
若長荊棘和蒺藜，必被廢棄，近於咒詛，結局就是焚燒。
親愛的弟兄們，我們雖是這樣說，卻深信你們的行為強過這些，而且近乎得救。
因為 神並非不公義，竟忘記你們所做的工和你們為他名所顯的愛心，就是先前伺候聖徒，如今還是伺候。
我們願你們各人都顯出這樣的殷勤，使你們有滿足的指望，一直到底。
並且不懈怠，總要效法那些憑信心和忍耐承受應許的人。
正如希伯來書這段經文所警告我們的，擁抱十架、獻上生命跟隨耶穌，卻又再次離棄 神，決定要服事自我與魔鬼是件很危險的事。然而，倘若我們尚未『嘗過天恩的滋味、於聖靈有分，並嘗過神善道的滋味、覺悟來世權能』，我們仍可能再次更新。要做到這些事需要某種程度的成熟，並擁有 神的啟示與祂的道路，倘若我們還從中離棄 神，我們真的無可救藥了。
因此，我們也可以藉此推論，依照我們成熟的程度、還有我們所擁有的 神的啟示，並且經歷到祂的權能，離棄 神將會使我們越發困難再次更新。
在我們看到 神在十字架上所彰顯的愛，然後離開祂，這絕對是件非常可怕的事。這麼做無疑顯露出我們基本性格上極大的缺失，以及我們對真理的麻木不仁。即便如此，我們在基督裡越成熟，我們犯罪的後果也越具毀滅性，特別是轉離 神來服事罪。我們看見此彰顯在撒旦的沈淪，他本居高位，一旦沈淪了，絕不是一點點沈淪而已。
答案是遠離 神絕不是我們的選項，或許我們可能偶爾絆跌，但正如箴言廿四章16節告訴我們：『義人屢次跌倒，總會再站起來…。』『義人』也會跌倒，但他們會持續站起來，不會一跌不起。
在希伯來書也告訴我們，耶穌變得像我們一樣，以致於祂可以成為一位深知我們軟弱的大祭司，祂對我們滿有恩典與憐憫。雖然祂從來沒有犯過罪，但是祂知道我們的掙扎，也深深憐憫著我們。
掙扎本身就是祂恩典與憐憫的一部份，因為我們有抵擋罪的掙扎，有對抗老我的掙扎，這些都使我們成熟與堅固。正如我們先前所說的，根據羅馬書十二章，這就是我們轉化的方式。在經文中『變化』（transformed參考羅馬書12:2）的希臘文，就是英文字『蛻變』（metamorphosis）的來源。這個字描述毛毛蟲轉化成蝴蝶的過程，蝴蝶最大的掙扎可能在於破繭而出，但也是這樣的掙扎強化了蝴蝶，使它能拍動那對沈重的翅膀。同樣地，我們所經歷對抗老我的掙扎，預備了我們在天上遨翔。
不要停止對抗，有一天你將可以飛翔！
(摘自 喬納 word for the week, Week 50, 2009)
Discerning the Times, Part 60
Week 50, 2009
As we discussed last week, the grace of God is not just the forgiveness of repeated sins in our lives—it is the power to live a new life as a new creation that does not continue to be subject to the old nature. However, the battle is long and hard against our old nature, and the grace of God certainly does forgive us for our repeated failures while we are fighting. The deception of many is that they do not have to fight—that they can continue to live in sin and God will still forgive them and bless them. This is a dangerous fallacy made clear in Hebrews 6:4-12:
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,
who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,
if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.
But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.
Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case things—that accompany salvation.
God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.
We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
As we are warned in this text from Hebrews, it is a dangerous thing to embrace the cross, give our lives to follow Jesus, and then fall away, determining to serve ourselves and the devil again. However, it is possible to be renewed again if we have not “tasted the heavenly gift . . . shared in the Holy Spirit . . . tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age.” To have done all of this is to have come to a level of maturity and revelation of God and His ways and if we fall from this we are incorrigible.
We might also deduce by this that to the degree we have matured, have had the revelation of God, and experienced His power, to fall away would make it increasingly difficult to be renewed again.
Certainly it is a terrible thing to have beheld the love of God as demonstrated by the cross and then turn away from Him. To do so certainly reveals a bigger flaw in our basic character and our callousness toward the truth. Even so, the more mature we are in Christ, the more devastating the consequences of our sins can be, especially the turning away from God to serve sin. We see this demonstrated in the fall of Satan, who had such a high position that when he fell, he did not just fall a little bit.
The answer is that turning from God is not an option for us. We may trip up and stumble at times, but as we are told in Proverbs 24:16, “For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again….” The “righteous” can fall too, but they keep getting back up. They do not stay down.
We are also told in Hebrews that Jesus became like us so that He could be a High Priest who knew our weaknesses, and He does have grace and mercy toward us. Though He never fell to sin, He knows the struggle and does have compassion for us.
The struggle itself is part of His grace and mercy because the struggle we have against sin, against our old nature, both matures and strengthens us. As we have covered before, this is how we are transformed according to Romans 12. The Greek word for “transformed” (see Romans 12:2) in that text is where we get our English word “metamorphosis” from. This word describes the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Probably the greatest struggle a butterfly will ever know is breaking out of its cocoon, but it is this struggle that strengthens the butterfly so that it can flap those huge wings. It is likewise the struggle that we go through warring against our old nature that prepares us to soar in the heavenly places.
Don’t ever quit fighting, and one day you will be able to fly!