阅读经文 

我们说，救恩的好消息（由小书卷代表）是又甜又苦的，今天让我们更深入思想一下这句话的意思吧。

当讲述这个故事的约翰请天使把小书卷交给他时，天使告诉他：“你拿着吃尽了，便叫你的肚子发苦，然而在你口中要甜如蜜。”（参启 10:9）

我们喜欢“甜如蜜”这部分描述，但我们不想肚子发苦。难道神的好消息不能单单停留在我们口中、而不深入我们肚子里面吗？

这件事令我想起我的朋友Nuygen，他成年后认识耶稣，接受祂为自己的主和救主。Nuygen接受了这个好消息，甘之如饴，他喜爱阅读神在圣经上的话语。

直至有一天，他在思想耶稣的教导：“要爱你们的仇敌，为那逼迫你们的祷告”。（参太 5:44）Nuygen 1970年代在越南长大，他身上仍然带着残酷的敌人留下的疤痕。在这一刻，那个一向甜如蜜的好消息，叫他的肚子发苦了。Nuygen记忆中的疤痕，令他感到深切的痛苦、愤恨和恼怒。然而，在基督里，他能够化怒气为宽恕，他的信心也因此增长了。

相信耶稣就要求我们允许神的话语深入我们心中，每当我们需要改变时，我们便得着能力改变，并且得医治。

Let’s reflect some more today on what it can mean to say that the good-news message of salvation (represented by the little scroll) is sweet and sour.

When John, the narrator of this story, asked the angel to give him the little scroll, he was told, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’"

We like the "sweet as honey" part, but we don’t like the idea of a sour stomach. Couldn’t the good news of God just linger in our mouths and not sink down deep inside?

When I think about this, I am reminded of my friend Nuygen who, as an adult, came to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Nuygen took in the good news and savored it. He read God’s Word, the Bible, and he studied it and loved it.

Then one day he reflected on Jesus’ teaching that says, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44). Nuygen had grown up in Vietnam in the 1970s, and his body still carried scars inflicted by ruthless enemies. Now the good-news message, which had tasted so sweet, turned sour in his stomach. Nuygen’s memories of those scars gave him deep pain and bitterness and anger. But, in Christ, his faith grew stronger as his anger turned to forgiveness.

Faith in Jesus requires letting God’s Word sink deep down inside us to change us, wherever we may need to be changed—and healed.