We Love, Because God First Loved Us 我们爱,因为神先爱我们
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God… We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
Author: Ps Andrew Xu
Yesterday I celebrated my wedding anniversary with my wife. Time flies and it had been 11 years since we got married to each other. These 11 years are full of God’s grace though there are also many challenges. Marriage is a covenant before God and is God’s grace given to all who are married. Therefore, we must grab the opportunity to live out love in our marriages. Love is a choice, a choice we make when we receive love from God. We do not have the ability to offer sacrificial love because the love that comes from our flesh is imperfect. But as Christians, we received God’s perfect sacrificial love, we can better understand and should have experienced what sacrificial love is and would be able to emulate this love of God in our lives. Not only are we able to show this sacrificial love to our spouse and family members but also to all the people whom we are in contact with. I want to encourage each other with the following 2 points.
1. Receive God’s love and live in Him and He in us.
Not only should we know the love of God, but we must also believe that God loves us. Do you believe that God loves you? Jesus loves us so deeply that He is willing to sacrifice His own life for us to save us from the condemnation of our sins. If we cannot truly experience and believe that God really loves us, we will not be able to live in Christ, because living in God’s love is living in Christ. When we are immersed in the sacrificial perfect love of God, we will be filled with the love us God and we would have God’s love in us. If we have never received God’s unconditional love, we will never be able to live out this sacrificial unconditional love in our lives.
2. Those who love God will love the people around him.
If anyone says he loves God, he must also love the people around him. If he does not love the people around him, his love for God is a lie. This might seem very extreme, but this is the truth. Not that we will not fail in love sometimes, but the fundamental love for others must be there. We cannot receive God’s sacrificial love and live a life of selfishness. What seed we sow will bear the same fruit? We plan a seed of love and we bear love. We sow a seed of bitterness and we bear selfishness and bitterness.
“神对我们的爱，我们已经明白了，而且相信了。神就是爱；住在爱里面的，就住在神里面，神也住在他里面。…我们爱，因为神先爱我们。人若说 “我爱神”，却恨他的弟兄，就是说谎的。不爱看得见的弟兄，就不能爱看不见的神。爱神的，也应当爱弟兄，这就是我们从神领受的命令。”
文：许燕杰传道
昨天是我的结婚周年纪念日，不知不觉我已跟我的糟糠之妻结婚了十一年。这十一年的光阴充满感恩也有许多的挑战。夫妻的关系是在神面前立的约，是上帝所赐给夫妻的恩典。即使如此，我们更应该把握时机去在我们的婚姻中活出爱。爱人是一个选择，是我们明白并领受了神的爱之后决定的一个选择。我们本没有能力去付出无条件的爱，因为我们属肉体的爱是不完美的。但我们身为基督徒的因为领受了上帝无条件的大爱，我们对爱应该有更深的认识和体会，也因此能够更像上帝的去爱。不单单是对我们的伴侣和家人要有爱，对我们生命中所接触的人也应当一味的去付出无条件的爱。小弟想要以下面两点彼此共勉。
1. 要常常领受神的爱，住在神里面，神也住在我们里面
我们不单要明白神爱我们，更是要相信神爱我们。你相信吗？耶稣爱我们甚深，竟然愿意牺牲自己的生命，为的就是拯救我们。我们若不能够真实地体会到并相信神爱我们，我们就无法住在主里，因为住在主的爱中也就是住在主里了。我们沉浸在神的爱的时候，我们就被神充满也被神的爱充满，我们也因此有了神的爱在我们里面。我们若没有真正的领受神无条件的爱，我们就无法活出神无条件的爱在我们的生命中。
2. 爱神的人一定会爱人
若人说他爱神，那他必定也要爱他周围的人，不然那对神的爱就是虚假的。这句话你可能觉得很重，但是真实的。不是说爱神的人不会有软弱的时候，但那最根本对人的爱是必定要有的。我们不可能领受了上帝无私的爱，却成为一个自私的人。种什么子就生出什么果来。种下的是爱的子，就生出爱来。种下的是苦毒的子就会生出自私与苦毒。