2月11日

標　　題： 愛生成順服

經　　節： 有了我的命令又遵守的，這人就是愛我的；愛我的必蒙我父愛他，我也要愛他，並且要向他顯現。（約翰福音十四章21節）

遵守神的命令應該是心甘情願的。當你開始掙扎，不能順服神的時候，就是你的心已經轉離神的指針。有些人宣稱：「我愛神，但是我的生命有些地方很難順服神。」這在靈性上根本是不可能的。如果我問你：「你愛神嗎？」你可能很輕易地回答：「當然囉！」如果我問你：「你順服神嗎？」你是否也能立即回應肯定的答案？然而，我是在問你同一個問題呢！對神真純的愛，會使人全心全意順服神。如果你告訴配偶，有時候你愛他，有時候你得努力掙扎才能愛他，那麼你的婚姻關係正瀕臨危機。同樣地，我們竟然假設神滿足於我們依情況而定的愛和部分的順服。神才不呢！沒有愛的順服是拘泥於律法形式主義。為順服而順服，不過是完美主義罷了，只會讓人愈發驕傲。許多基督徒相當自覺地在生活中操練自己，力求培養門徒訓練，好能更順服基督。屬靈的門徒訓練是會有幫助的，但這些訓練永遠不能替代你對神的愛。愛是能自製。神看的不只是你神聖的習性、道德的生活、教會的參與，祂洞察你真正的心之所在。你對神的敬拜是否變得空洞，只是例行公事罷了？你是否已經失去研讀聖經的動機？你是否正經歷屬靈的低潮？你的禱告生活是否淪為儀式？這些都是你的心已經遠離神的徵兆。拾回你起初的愛心，愛是與神相交和事奉神的最大原動力。

Love Brings Obedience

"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." (John 14:21 )

Obedience to God’s commands comes from your heart. When you begin struggling to obey God, that is a clear indication that your heart has shifted away from Him. Some claim: “I love God, but I’m having difficulty obeying Him in certain areas of my life.” That is a spiritual impossibility. If I were to ask you, “Do you love God?” you might easily respond, “Yes!” However, if I were to ask you, “Are you obeying God?” would you answer yes as quickly? Yet I would be asking you the same question! Genuine love for God leads to wholehearted obedience. If you told your spouse that you loved her at certain times but that you struggled to love her at others, your relationship would be in jeopardy. Yet we assume that God is satisfied with occasional love or partial obedience. He is not.

Obedience without love is legalism. Obedience for its own sake can be nothing more than perfectionism, which leads to pride. Many conscientious Christians seek to cultivate discipline in their lives to be more obedient to Christ. As helpful as spiritual disciplines can be, they never can replace your love for God. Love is the discipline. God looks beyond your godly habits, beyond your moral lifestyle, and beyond your church involvement and focuses His penetrating gaze upon your heart.

Has your worship become empty and routine? Have you lost your motivation to read God’s Word? Are you experiencing spiritual lethargy? Is your prayer life reduced to a ritual? These are symptoms of a heart that has shifted away from God. Return to your first love. Love is the greatest motivation for a relationship with God and for serving Him.