Breaking the Cycle 打破循环
Dexu Xia
Breaking the Cycle
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17
David’s first beating came at the hands of his father on his seventh birthday, after he accidentally broke a window. “He kicked me and punched me,” David said. “Afterward, he apologized. He was an abusive alcoholic, and it’s a cycle I’m doing my best to end now.”
But it took a long time for David to get to this point. Most of his teen years and twenties were spent in jail or on probation, and in and out of addiction treatment centers. When it felt like his dreams were entirely dashed, he found hope in a Christ-centered treatment center through a relationship with Jesus.
“I used to be filled with nothing but despair,” David says. “Now I’m pushing myself in the other direction. When I get up in the morning, the first thing I tell God is that I’m surrendering my will over to Him.”
When we come to God with lives shattered, whether by others’ wrongdoing or by our own, God takes our broken hearts and makes us new: “If anyone is in Christ, . . . the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ’s love and life breaks into the cycles of our past, giving us a new future (vv. 14–15). And it doesn’t end there! Throughout our lives, we can find hope and strength in what God has done and continues to do in us—each and every moment.
Where were you headed when you received Jesus as your Savior? How does it help to know that God continues to shape your life to increasingly resemble His?
Dear God, thank You for interrupting the downward trajectory of my life and making me a new creation! Make me ever more like You.
打破循环
若有人在基督里，他就是新造的人，旧事已过，都变成新的了。—哥林多后书5章17节
浩伟第一次被父亲毒打是他七岁生日的那天，他因不小心打破窗户而遭父亲无情虐打。浩伟回忆说：“他总是对我拳打脚踢，然后再道歉。他是个有暴力倾向的酒鬼，我也沾染了这样的恶习，如今正在努力摆脱这种恶性循环。”
浩伟花了很长的时间才走到这一步。他十多岁，甚至到二十多岁的时候，不是待在监狱里就是被判缓刑，并多次进出戒瘾中心。就在他感觉人生梦想完全破灭时，他在一所福音戒瘾中心里，藉着与耶稣建立关系而找到了盼望。
浩伟说：“过去，我心中只有绝望。但现在，我努力朝另一个方向迈进。我每天早上一起床，告诉上帝的第一件事情，就是我要放下自己的意愿，完全顺服祂。”
当我们以破碎的生命来到上帝的面前时，无论是起因于自己或别人犯下的过失，上帝都能让我们那破碎的老我，成为新造的人。圣经说：“若有人在基督里，……旧事已过，都变成新的了”（哥林多后书5章17节）。基督的爱与生命能破除我们过往的恶性循环，赐给我们新的未来（14-15节）。而且，不仅于此！我们的一生当中，每时每刻都能从上帝的作为，以及祂在我们身上持续的工作，找到盼望与力量。
当你接受耶稣为救主时，你的人生正朝着什么方向？
知道上帝仍继续塑造你的生命，使你越来越像祂，对你有何帮助？
亲爱的上帝，感谢祢使我不致越发堕落沉沦，
并且使我成为新造的人！求祢让我能越来越像祢。