Love is a Choice 爱，是个选择
Author: Ps Andrew Xu
“We love because God first loved us.”
- 1 John 4:19
Surely Jesus did not mean for us to love everyone… Definitely, right? There are so many in this world who are so detestable, how can anyone love these people? Early this month, I was browsing in a shopping mall. It was about lunch time and I thought of going to the food court to grab my lunch. Just as I was walking towards the food court, someone who is bigger sized than me (can you imagine) knocked onto my left arm, and as I am injured in my left shoulder, I cried out with a loud “ah…” when he knocked into me due to the pain. He turned back to stared at me with a smirk and walked off without even apologising. His reaction is as if it was my fault that he knocked onto me. I was furious and was thinking in my heart: “May retribution befall on you and you slip and fall!”
And as my emotions are calmer, the Holy Spirit convicted me, unknowingly, I have sinned in my heart. Yet, I really do not wish to bless that person, he is too much! Such an unlovable person who hurt me and is unrepentant and still have the cheek to blame it on me?? How can I love such a person? That is so unnatural! Can we choose not to love such an unlovable person?
Just as we choose not to love a person, loving someone is also a choice. There are those who are easier to love and some harder. But lovable or not, is just considerations of our decision to love. In the end, love is ultimately still, a choice. Before we make this decision, we should too consider and understand why we make this decision to love.
The bible reminds us through John the reason why we love the people around us, “we love because God first loved us”. It is this simple. Brothers and sisters, we are not lovable too based on our own merit in the eyes of God. I really don’t think God finds it easy to love us, it would definitely be more difficult than us loving the unlovable around us. Have we not often made God angry and sad by the thing we do? Are we not often unrepentant of our transgressions and blame God for the bad things that happen to us even though we caused it ourselves? If God based His decision of whether to love us on whether we are lovable, then we definitely is in trouble. Though we are not lovable, but God chose to love us. This is grace. Therefore, we loving another is also a decision. We receive the grace of love from God, we give this grace of love to those around us, no matter if they are lovable or not.
Dear brothers and sisters, the only way to respond to God’s love is to love. Love the God who loved us, love the people whom God love. This is the great commandment.
文/许燕杰传道
“我们爱因为神先爱我们。”
-约翰一书 4:19
耶稣真的要我们爱“每一个”人吗？应该不可能吧？这世上有那么多可憎可恶的人，怎么有办法去爱他们呢？上个月初，我到了商场去逛逛。午餐时间到了，就想到食阁去买午餐吃。正在走向食阁的路上，后面有一个比我更“大只”的壮汉撞到了我的左手。因为我左肩受伤，撞到我的瞬间，我便大声“啊”了一声。他莫名其妙的转回头来，没有说一声对不起，还瞪了我一眼然后就走掉了。他的反应好像是我的错一样。我真的很生气，心里想：“最好等下有报应，让你走路跌倒!”
圣灵在我心情平静下来的时候斥责我，不知觉的，我在心里已经犯罪了。但我真的很不想祝福那人，太可恶了。这么不可爱，伤害我又不知错，而且还觉得是我的错的一个人我还要爱他？太反常了吧！我们是否可选择不要爱这么不可爱的人呢？
不爱一个人是我们的选择，相反的，爱一个人也是一个选择。有些人比较容易爱，有些人没有那么容易爱。但可爱和不可爱只是我们做决定的考量而已。最终，爱是一个选择。在做决定要爱或不爱之前，我们要考量的不只是那人值不值得我们爱，我们更是要明白我们爱的原因。
圣经藉着约翰让我们知道我们爱人的原因是什么，我们爱是因为神先爱我们。就那么简单。弟兄姐妹们，我们在神的眼中也非常不可爱。神要爱我们非常的不容易，比我们要去爱那些不可爱的人更不容易。我们难道没有常常做一些让神伤心的事？我们也常常不知错，而且还把我们咎由自取的遭遇怪到神的头上去。若神是凭着我们可爱与不可爱来决定是否爱我们，我们就惨了。我们纵然不可爱，但神却选择爱我们。这是恩典。我们爱人也是个决定，因为我们从神那里得到了爱的恩典，我们也施恩与我们周围的人，无论他们可爱或不可爱。