5月11日 你不能一蹴而就

有了爱弟兄的心，又要加上爱众人的心。（彼后一7）

对大多数人来说，爱的意义是模糊的；人谈论爱，却不知爱是什么。爱是一个人对另一个人超出一切的欣赏。属灵方面，耶稣要求我们拣选他超过一切（路十四26）。当圣灵将神的爱浇灌在我们心里，耶稣基督就很自然的居首位了。从此，我们就能活出彼得在此所列举的种种德行了。

首先，神要把我的伪装、外表的敬虔，一概拆除。圣灵显明神爱我，不是因为我可爱，而是因为他爱的本性。他对我说：“好了，如今你要用同样的爱去爱别人。”“我怎样爱你们，你们也要怎样相爱。”“我会把好些你看不在眼内的人，摆在你周围，你必须用我的爱去爱他们，像我爱你们一样。”爱是不能矫揉造作的。不少人试着这样作，但不久就厌倦了。

“主长久忍耐……”让我看看自己，又看看他怎样待我。神爱我到一个地步，以致我一切的罪恶、卑鄙、自私、恶行，他都不追究；因此我就能活在世上，以神的爱去爱人。神对我的爱既是用之不竭，我对别人的爱也必须如此。若我一动怒，在恩典中的长进就会停止。我所以发怒，是因为要与一个怪癖的人共处。但试想，从前我与神相处，叫他多么难堪！我们是否愿意与主耶稣合而为一，让他的生命与温馨每时每刻流露出来？不论人性的爱，或神圣的爱，都需要加以培育，才能存留。爱虽然是自然流露的，却要操练去持守。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，以你活泼的能力、恩赐和美善，影响我们生活的每一方面，使它能反映出你脸上的荣光。这似乎是我全部的祷告。

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.