阅读经文 

这段经文让我想起了我年轻时的游泳教练。教练站在泳池中离我只有几步远的地方，但当我向他游去时，他便往后退，好使我竭尽全力地去到他那里。当我终于抓住他时，他会让我回头看看自己走了多远，更重要的是，我发现他帮助我提升了信心。

我在游泳的时候，非常希望能够到教练那里。而耶稣也希望我们像这样去寻求祂。但在人生的泳池中，还有许多其他东西我们试图去抓。然而，它们都不如耶稣可靠，虽然许多东西似乎很容易轻松得到。

这些我们想抓住的其他东西就是偶像。偶像可以是假神或假货。这段经文是在警戒我们提防假货。我们会贪恋那些似乎能够暂时满足我们的东西，但它们永远不可能像耶稣那样安全可靠。事实上，有些东西可能非常危险，如果我们不放手，它们甚至会把我们带向毁灭。

抓住这个世界的假货或偶像是不安全的，所以我们需要不断游向基督，祂是永远与我们同在的，是永远的平安。（参太 28:20）

This passage reminds me of my swimming instructor when I was young. The instructor stood just a few body lengths away from me in the pool, but as I swam toward him, he moved backward so that I would stretch my abilities to reach him. When I reached him, he showed me how far I had gone, and, more importantly, I found that he had improved my confidence.

While I was swimming, I wanted so badly to reach the instructor. And Jesus wants us to reach for him like that. But in the pool of life there are many other things we could grab onto. None of them are as safe as Jesus, but many of them seem easier to reach.

These other things we want to grab are idols. Idols can be false gods or false goods. This passage is warning us about false goods. We get greedy for things that seem able to help us, but they can never be as safe as Jesus. In fact, these things are so unsafe that if we don’t let go of them, they will bring us to destruction.

It’s not safe to grab onto the false goods or idols of this world when we simply need to keep stretching toward Christ, who is with us always (Matthew 28:20).