Friday 15th October
By Chow Ee-Tan 赵一丹

LOVE WILL FIND A WAY

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony – Colossians 3: 14

Love – the four-letter word that is so often used, and misused. The idea of love’ is universal and vast and is lauded in art, literature, music and films. I remember back in the 90s when I caught the King of Pop in concert here in Kuala Lumpur. In between singing, he shouted out:I love you, I love you, I love you!’ and his fans reciprocated. The cynical me thought to myself, his proclamation of love was lip service at most.

In the Bible, we know that love is an important attribute that all believers should possess and manifest, simply because God is love and we have received His love.

There are at least 55 direct commandments in the New Testament telling us to love one another and exhortations to practice loving qualities. Leading up to the well-known passage on love found in 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul calls love the `more excellent way’(1 Cor 12:31).

The love spoken of and taught by God is Agape love – a self-sacrificial love that puts others above yourself. Love is not about a feeling or emotion. Love is a commitment to action, and true agape love possesses all the qualities and virtues of what 1 Corinthians 13 describes.

Jesus Himself teaches on love to His disciples in John 13:34-35 saying: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Yes, we ought to emulate Jesus, who is the epitome and embodiment of love.

In Colossians, Paul teaches that love is the most important and supreme virtue believers should display. Love supersedes all other attributes and attitudes that believers should possess in Col 3:12-13 : compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, forgiving each other..

Why is love a virtue above all others? This is because love brings people together despite their differences in backgrounds and characters. Not only that, love binds us together in unison and harmony.

Harmony as understood musically means “the combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce a pleasing effect.” Similarly in the church and beyond, believers, although being different in many ways, can live and interact with each other in harmony because of love. Just like in an orchestra or a band, love is the song that believers must all play so that they can be bounded in perfect harmony.

Of course, we are still humans and this `perfect harmony’ that Paul mentioned may be delusive to achieve. But let us remember that we have Christ’s love dwelling in our hearts thus we can and ought to love others like He loves us.

In his article for Bible.org, Pastor and author Steven J. Cole writes that agape love is the basis for mature Christian unity, and such love should be shown in peaceful relationship in the church. However, we do not want to idealise and believe that the body of Christ is one big loving family without any discord. From time to time, there’s bound to be disagreements, misunderstanding and even conflicts among Christian brothers and sisters.

But we are called to above all virtues, to put on love in our relationships with one another. Jesus even said not only love your neighbours but love your enemies too. This stems from the fact that we have experienced how deep our Father’s love is, so much so that Jesus died for us to give us eternal lives. Our love should overflow from inside us, not by our own human effort, but by the filling and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Paul concludes his sermon on love with: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor 13:13).

Love will find a way, because we are called to love.

Prayer: Father God, thank You for Your amazing love to us, so that as Your children, we are called to love one another. We pray that we can love one another with Your love, putting aside our differences and be bound in harmony. Let us remember that love is a virtue above all virtues, and help us to live a life that reflects Your wonderful love for us. We thank You in Jesus name, Amen.

每日灵粮
星期五，2021年10月15日
标题：有爱就有出路
作者：赵一丹
翻译：陈月妃

在这一切之外、要存着爱心．爱心就是联络全德的。—歌罗西书3：14

爱——是个经常被使用和误用的字。“爱”的概念是普遍而广泛的，在艺术、文学、音乐和电影中都广受赞誉。我记得上世纪90年代，我在吉隆坡的音乐会上看到了流行天王。在唱歌的间隙，他大声喊道：“我爱你，我爱你，我爱你！”他的粉丝们也纷纷回应。愤世嫉俗的我心想，他的爱的宣告充其量只是口头上的而已。

在圣经中，我们知道爱是所有信徒都应该拥有和彰显的重要属性，因为神就是爱，而我们已经接受了祂的爱。

新约中至少有55条直接的诫命告诉我们要彼此相爱，并告诫我们要实践爱的品质。在哥林多前书13章中关于爱的著名篇章之前，使徒保罗称爱为“最妙的道”（哥林多前书12:31）。

上帝所说和教导的爱是神圣的爱—— 一种将他人置于自己之上的自我牺牲的爱。爱不是一种感觉或情绪。爱是付诸行动的承诺，真正的神圣的爱具备哥林多前书 13 所描述的所有品质和美德。

耶稣在约翰福音 13:34-35 中亲自教导祂的门徒关于爱的道理，祂如此说：“我赐给你们一条新命令、乃是叫你们彼此相爱．我怎样爱你们、你们也要怎样相爱。你们若有彼此相爱的心、众人因此就认出你们是我的门徒了。”是的，我们应该效法耶稣，祂是爱的典范和化身。

在歌罗西书中，保罗教导说，爱是信徒应该展现的最重要和最崇高的美德。爱取代了信徒在歌罗西书 3:12-13 中应具备的所有其他属性和态度：怜悯的心、恩慈、谦虚、温柔及忍耐、彼此包容、彼此饶恕。。。

为什么爱高于其他一切的美德？这是因为爱把人们聚集在一起，尽管他们的背景和性格不同。不仅如此，爱将我们团结在一起，和谐一致。

和谐在音乐上的理解是“同时发出的音符的组合，以产生令人愉悦的效果”。同样，在教会内外，信徒们虽然在许多方面有所不同，但因为爱，他们可以和谐地生活和互动。就像在管弦乐队或乐队中一样，爱是信徒们都必须演奏的和旋，以便他们可以完美地和谐相处。

当然，我们仍然是人类，保罗提到的这种“完美的和谐”可能是难以实现的。但让我们记住，我们心中有基督的爱，因此我们可以也应该像祂爱我们一样去爱别人。

牧师兼作家史蒂文•科尔（Steven J.Cole）在为《圣经》网站撰写的文章中写道，神圣的爱是成熟的基督徒合一的基础，这种爱应该在教会的和平关系中表现出来。然而，我们不想理想化，并相信基督的身体是一个充满爱且没有任何不和谐的大家庭。有时，基督徒弟兄姐妹之间难免会有分歧、误解甚至冲突。

然而我们被呼召在所有美德之中，在我们彼此的关系中表现出爱。耶稣甚至说，不仅要爱你的邻舍，还要爱你的仇敌。这源于我们经历了天父深切的爱，以至于耶稣为我们而死，赐给了我们永生。我们的爱应该从我们内心流露出来，不是靠我们自己的努力，而是透过圣灵的充满和能力。

保罗在结束他关于爱的讲道时说：“如今常存的有信、有望、有爱、这三样、其中最大的是爱。” （哥林多前书 13:13）。

有爱就有出路，因为我们蒙召去爱。

祷告：父神，感谢你对我们奇妙的爱，我们作为你的孩子，也被蒙召彼此相爱。我们祈祷我们可以用你的爱彼此相爱，抛开我们之间的分歧，和谐相处。让我们记住，爱是高于其他一切的美德，并帮助我们活出彰显你的奇妙的爱的生活。我们感谢你。奉耶稣的名，阿门。