【最后1天】听力训练Day 31 | 坚持到最后才是真正的胜利！每天一篇英语小短文，打卡31天提升听力！

打卡有奖 | 英语听力训练营：每天一篇小短文，打卡31天，提升听力！积分最高者还有机会获得JesusChrist为您准备的精美礼品！

What's My Purpose in Life?

我的人生目标是什么?

Consider a hammer. It’s designed to hit nails. That’s what it was created to do. Now imagine that the hammer never gets used. It just sits in the toolbox. The hammer doesn’t care.

But now imagine that same hammer with a soul, a self-consciousness.

One day someone pulls him out of the toolbox and uses him to break some branches for the fireplace. The hammer is exhilarated. At the end of the day, though, he is still unfulfilled. Something is still missing.

In the days that follow, he’s used often. Still, he’s left unfulfilled. So he longs for more action. More of the same, he believes, is the solution to his lack of fulfillment.

Then one day someone uses him on a nail. Suddenly, the lights come on in his hammer soul. He now understands what he was truly designed for. He was meant to hit nails. Now he knows what his hammer soul was searching for all along.

We are created in God’s image for relationship with him. Being in that relationship is the only thing that will ultimately satisfy our souls. Until we come to know God, we’ve had many wonderful experiences. We’ve been used for some noble purposes, but not the one we were ultimately designed for, not the one through which we will find the most fulfillment. Augustine summarized it this way: “You [God] have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”

A relationship with God is the only thing that will quench our soul’s longing. Jesus Christ said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” Until we come to know God, we are hungry and thirsty in life. We try to “eat” and “drink” all kinds of things to satisfy our hunger and thirst, but yet they remain.”

We are like the hammer. We don’t realize what will end the emptiness, the lack of fulfillment, in our lives. Even in the midst of a Nazi prison camp, Corri Ten Boom found God to be wholly satisfying: “The foundation of our happiness was that we knew ourselves hidden with Christ in God. We could have faith in God’s love…our Rock who is stronger than the deepest darkness.”

Usually when we keep God out, we try to find fulfillment in something other than God, but we can never be ultimately satisfied.

让我们来对一把锤子做一些思考吧。它是被用来钉钉子的，这就是它被造的目的。现在我们想象一下这把锤子永远不会被使用时的情形吧。它就一直呆在工具箱里。锤子本身对这样的际遇并不在乎。

但现在设想一下：如果赋予这把锤子灵魂和自我意识以后，它会怎么样呢？

有一天，有人把它从工具箱里拿了出来，用它砍下一些树枝来烧旺壁炉。锤子为此激动不已。可是，在一天结束的时候，他仍然没有得到满足，觉得还缺点儿什么。

在接下来的日子里，他经常被使用。然而，他仍然没有得到满足。所以他渴望得到更多的工作机会。他相信，更多重复的工作，是解决他缺乏成就感这个问题的好办法。

然后有一天，有人用他钉了一根钉子。突然，他锤子的灵魂被一道光照亮了。现在他明白了自己被设计成锤子的真正用意是什么了。他原来是为了要用来钉钉子的啊！现在他终于知道自己的锤子灵魂一直在寻找什么了。

我们是照着神的形像被造的，为的是与祂有关系。这样的关系是唯一会最终满足我们灵魂所需的东西。在认识神之前，我们有过许多奇妙的经历。我们被赋予一些高尚的目的，但这些并不是我们被造的最终目的，不是我们能从中能得到最大满足感的目的。奥古斯丁如此概括说:“你(神)为了你自己造了我们，我们的心躁动不安，直到在你里面得着安息。”

与上帝的关系是唯一能止住我们灵魂饥渴的东西。耶稣基督说：“我就是生命的粮。到我这里来的，必定不饿。信我的，永远不渴。”在认识神之前，我们的生命又饥又渴，我们试图“吃”、“喝”各种各样的东西来满足我们的饥饿和口渴，但结果却是望梅止渴，它们仍然呆在原地，继续嘲弄、折磨着我们。

我们就像这把锤子一样，意识不到什么东西能够填满自己内心的空虚与缺乏。即使在纳粹集中营里，科里·腾·布姆（Corri Ten Boom）也发现上帝是完全令人满足的：”我们快乐的根基，是知道自己与基督一同藏在上帝的里面。我们可以信靠上帝的爱... ...我们的磐石比最深的黑暗还要坚固。“

常常地，当我们拒绝神、企图在神以外的事上寻找满足的时候，却永远也从那里得不到终极的心满意足。

Q&A

Q: What is our purpose in life?

A: To meet our desire.

B: To glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

C: To enjoy the creation of God.

D: To hide with Christ in God.

别忘记打卡哟！！！