定意寻求上帝，就必寻见。

Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

寻找，就寻见；叩门，就给你们开门。-马太福音7章7节

In college, I woke up one morning to find Carol, my roommate, in a panic. Her signet ring was missing. We searched everywhere. The next morning we found ourselves picking through a dumpster.

大学时，一天早上当我在宿舍醒来，看到我的室友歌莉十分焦急，原来是她的印戒不见了。我们找遍每个角落，甚至第二天早上还翻拉圾箱来寻找。

I ripped open a trash bag. “You’re so dedicated to finding this!”

我撕扯开一个垃圾袋，转头对她说：“妳真的不惜一切要找回戒指啊！”

“I’m not losing a two-hundred-dollar ring!” she exclaimed.

她回答说：“我可不想失去价值美金200元的戒指！”

Carol’s determination reminds me of the parable Jesus told about the kingdom of heaven, which “is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field” (Matthew 13:44). Certain things are worth going great lengths to find.

歌莉的决心让我想起，耶稣所说有关天国的比喻：“天国好像宝贝藏在地里，人遇见了就把它藏起来，欢欢喜喜地去变卖一切所有的，买这块地”（马太福音13章44节）。有些东西确实值得不计代价去寻找啊！

Throughout the Bible, God promises that those who seek Him will find Him. In Deuteronomy, He explained to the Israelites that they would find Him when they turned from their sin and sought Him with all their hearts (4:28–29). In the book of 2 Chronicles, King Asa gained encouragement from a similar promise (15:2). And in Jeremiah, God gave the same promise to the exiles, saying He would bring them back from captivity (29:13–14).

在整本圣经中，上帝一再应许凡寻找祂的必得寻见。在申命记，祂让以色列百姓明白，当他们离开罪，尽心尽性寻求祂的时候，就必寻见（4章28-29节） 。在历代志下，亚撒王也因这样的应许得着激励（15章2节） 。在耶利米书，上帝同样应许那些被掳的人，寻求上帝就必寻见，并要领他们归回（29章13-14节） 。

If we seek God, through His Word, worship, and in our daily lives, we will find Him. Over time, we’ll know Him on a deeper level. That will be even better than the sweet moment when Carol pulled her ring out of that trash bag!

无论我们是透过读经、敬拜，或是日常琐事寻求上帝，都必寻见祂。我们对祂的认识将与日俱增。这可是比歌莉从垃圾袋中找到戒指更加美妙！

主，求祢帮助我们全心全意地寻求祢。

Matthew 13:44-46    NIV

13 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

马太福音 13:44-46 

13 “天国好像宝贝藏在地里，人遇见了就把它藏起来，欢欢喜喜地去变卖一切所有的，买这块地。45 “天国又好像买卖人寻找好珠子， 46 遇见一颗重价的珠子，就去变卖他一切所有的，买了这颗珠子。

INSIGHT

灵粮透视

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” You’ve probably heard that line used to pressure you to do something or buy any number of things that failed to live up to the hype. But in the case of the kingdom of God, the claims Jesus makes about it in Matthew 13 are actually true.

“这是一个千载难逢的机会！”通常有人对你说这样的话，都是为了施加压力，逼你去做一些事情，或买些名不符实的物品。但在马太福音13章，耶稣对于上帝国度的讲论，却是真实无伪的。

In this chapter, Jesus repeatedly emphasizes how seeing and living in the new reality of His kingdom isn’t natural. In fact, God’s kingdom is so countercultural that Jesus describes it as “yeast” (v. 33), which in Scripture is typically seen as a symbol of corruption and evil (Hosea 7:4; Matthew 16:6, 11; 1 Corinthians 5:6–13). Jesus’s shocking use of this word would be similar to saying that the kingdom is like a virus or like saying, “It ruins everything.”

在这一章中，耶稣一再强调，要活出天国子民的身分，并非人的本性使然。事实上，上帝的国恰与主流文化相反，所以耶稣将上帝的国描述为“酵”（33节）。在圣经中，“酵”常被视为败坏和邪恶的象征（何西阿书7章4节；马太福音16章6、11节；哥林多前书5章6-13节）。耶稣违反常理地使用“酵”这个词，就像是说，祂的国好像病毒一样，或可说：“它会摧毁一切。”

And that’s exactly Jesus’s point. Truly experiencing His kingdom will not be comfortable or easy for any of us. It’ll ruin everything!—all our plans, all our assumptions, all our comfort. But it’s more than worth it. It’s the treasure that’s infinitely precious, the source of endless joy (Matthew 13:44–46).

这正是耶稣的意思，要活在上帝的国度里，对我们来说，并不是轻松简单的事。它会摧毁一切！包括我们所有的计划、所有的见解假设，以及所有的舒适享乐，但上帝国的价值却远超过这一切。上帝的国是无价之宝，是无尽喜乐的泉源（马太福音13章44-46节）。

整理：于姊妹