专注仰望上帝，就能焦点正确。

We are looking for the city that is to come. Hebrews 13:14

我们……乃是寻求那将来的城。-希伯来书13章14节

Almost as soon as the ferryboat started to move, my little daughter said she felt ill. Seasickness had already begun to affect her. Soon I was feeling queasy myself. “Just stare at the horizon,” I reminded myself. Sailors say this helps to regain a sense of perspective.

在渡轮开始启动的时候，我的小女儿就说她想吐，看来她开始晕船了。不久，我也感到反胃，于是提醒自己说：“要专注凝视远处的地平线。”因有些船员说，调整焦点有助于防止晕船。

The Maker of the horizon (Job 26:10) knows that sometimes in life we may become fearful and restless. We can regain perspective by focusing on the distant but steady point of our destiny.

我们在一生中难免会恐惧不安，那位地平线的创造者（约伯记26章10节）也深知这点，但只要我们凝视那在远处不变的永恒盼望，就能获得正确的焦点。

The writer of Hebrews understood this. He sensed discouragement in his readers. Persecution had driven many of them from their homes. So he reminded them that other people of faith had endured extreme trials and had been left homeless. They endured it all because they anticipated something better.

希伯来书的作者了解这个道理，因他感受到信徒的灰心失意。迫害已驱使许多人离乡背井，因此，作者提醒他们：好些有信心的人忍受了极大的试炼，并且无家可归。他们能够忍受所有的苦难，乃因他们所期盼的是那更美好的。

As exiles, these readers could look forward to the city whose architect is God, the heavenly country, the city God prepared for them (Hebrews 11:10, 14, 16). So in his final exhortations, the writer asked his readers to focus on God’s promises. “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (13:14).

在流亡的时候，这些信徒可以期盼上帝所建造的那城，也就是天上的国度，是上帝为他们预备的（希伯来书11章10、14、16节）。在最后的劝勉中，作者更要信徒专注在上帝的应许。因为“我们在这里本没有常存的城，乃是寻求那将来的城”（13章14节）。

Our present troubles are temporary. We are “foreigners and strangers on earth” (11:13), but gazing at the horizon of God’s promises provides the point of reference we need.

当前的苦难是暂时的，我们“在世上是客旅，是寄居的”（11章13节）。但上帝的应许却有如地平线亘古不变，若能专注凝视便能保持正确的焦点。

亲爱的天父，在患难之中，求祢帮助我们专注祢的应许，相信祢的话语。

Hebrews 11:8-16 NIV

11 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. 13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

希伯来书 11:8-16 

11 亚伯拉罕因着信，蒙召的时候就遵命出去，往将来要得为业的地方去；出去的时候，还不知往哪里去。 9 他因着信，就在所应许之地作客，好像在异地居住帐篷，与那同蒙一个应许的以撒、雅各一样。 10 因为他等候那座有根基的城，就是神所经营、所建造的。 11 因着信，连撒拉自己，虽然过了生育的岁数，还能怀孕，因她以为那应许她的是可信的。 12 所以从一个仿佛已死的人就生出子孙，如同天上的星那样众多，海边的沙那样无数。13 这些人都是存着信心死的，并没有得着所应许的，却从远处望见，且欢喜迎接，又承认自己在世上是客旅，是寄居的。 14 说这样话的人，是表明自己要找一个家乡。 15 他们若想念所离开的家乡，还有可以回去的机会。 16 他们却羡慕一个更美的家乡，就是在天上的。所以神被称为他们的神，并不以为耻，因为他已经给他们预备了一座城。

INSIGHT

灵粮透视

Followers of Jesus wait for the day when we will be with Him—the fulfillment of what we’ve spent our lives pursuing. We rightfully yearn to be“home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). The troubles we have in this life make our desire that much sharper and earnest. Today’s passage isn’t about forgetting the world we live in and thinking only of heaven; it’s about seeing our present life from the perspective of the life to come. Paul reminded us that our current troubles are not worth comparing to what is to come (Romans 8:18).

身为耶稣的门徒，我们都热切地在等候与祂相聚的日子。到那日，我们毕生的追求都会实现。我们的确应该渴望“与主同住”（哥林多后书5章8节），今生的困苦使我们的渴望更加强烈、更加迫切。然而，今天阅读的经文不是要我们只想着天堂，却不顾现实的世界，而是要我们从永生的角度，来看现在的生活。保罗提醒我们，现今所受的苦楚根本不能和将来的荣耀相提并论（罗马书8章18节）。

整理：于姊妹