5月11日 你不能一蹴而就

有了愛弟兄的心，又要加上愛眾人的心。（彼後一7）

對大多數人來說，愛的意義是模糊的；人談論愛，卻不知愛是什麼。愛是一個人對另一個人超出一切的欣賞。屬靈方面，耶穌要求我們揀選他超過一切（路十四26）。當聖靈將神的愛澆灌在我們心裡，耶穌基督就很自然的居首位了。從此，我們就能活出彼得在此所列舉的種種德行了。

首先，神要把我的偽裝、外表的敬虔，一概拆除。聖靈顯明神愛我，不是因為我可愛，而是因為他愛的本性。他對我說：“好了，如今你要用同樣的愛去愛別人。”“我怎樣愛你們，你們也要怎樣相愛。”“我會把好些你看不在眼內的人，擺在你周圍，你必須用我的愛去愛他們，像我愛你們一樣。”愛是不能矯揉造作的。不少人試著這樣作，但不久就厭倦了。

“主長久忍耐……”讓我看看自己，又看看他怎樣待我。神愛我到一個地步，以致我一切的罪惡、卑鄙、自私、惡行，他都不追究；因此我就能活在世上，以神的愛去愛人。神對我的愛既是用之不竭，我對別人的愛也必須如此。若我一動怒，在恩典中的長進就會停止。我所以發怒，是因為要與一個怪癖的人共處。但試想，從前我與神相處，叫他多麼難堪！我們是否願意與主耶穌合而為一，讓他的生命與溫馨每時每刻流露出來？不論人性的愛，或神聖的愛，都需要加以培育，才能存留。愛雖然是自然流露的，卻要操練去持守。

祈禱◆噢，主啊，以你活潑的能力、恩賜和美善，影響我們生活的每一方面，使它能反映出你臉上的榮光。這似乎是我全部的禱告。

May 11 You Won't Reach It On Tiptoe

“Add to your brotherliness . . . love.” 2 Peter 1:7

Love is indefinite to most of us, we do not know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the sovereign preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that that preference be for Himself （cf. Luke 14:26）. When the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ is easily first; then we must practise the working out of these things mentioned by Peter.

The first thing God does is to knock pretence and the pious pose right out of me. The Holy Spirit reveals that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now, He says to me, show the same love to others – “Love as I have loved you.” “I will bring any number of people about you whom you cannot respect, and you must exhibit My love to them as I have exhibited it to you.” You won't reach it on tiptoe. Some of us have tried to, but we were soon tired.

“The Lord suffereth long. . . .” Let me look within and see His dealings with me. The knowledge that God has loved me to the uttermost, to the end of all my sin and meanness and selfishness and wrong, will send me forth into the world to love in the same way. God's love to me is inexhaustible, and I must love others from the bedrock of God's love to me. Growth in grace stops the moment I get huffed. I get huffed because I have a peculiar person to live with. Just think how disagreeable I have been to God! Am I prepared to be so identified with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness are being poured out all the time? Neither natural love nor Divine love will remain unless it is cultivated. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained by discipline.