0301 尖锐的问题
你爱我吗？《约翰福音 21:17》
彼得对这个尖锐问题的反应，与他几天前所表现出的大胆反抗截然不同，当时他宣称：「我就是必须与和你同死，也总不能不认你。」（马太福音 26:35；另见马太福音 26:33-34）。我们天然的个性，或者我们天然的自我，大胆地说出并宣告它的感受。但是，我们内在灵性自我的真爱，只能透过耶稣基督这个问题的伤害，才能发现。彼得爱耶稣，就像任何天然人爱好人一样；但这只不过是情感上的爱，它可能深入到我们天然的自我，但它永远无法渗透到一个人的灵里。真正的爱永远不只是宣称自己 ；耶稣说： 「凡在人面前认我的（也就是说，透过他所做每件事来告白他的爱，而不仅是透过他的言语），人子在神的使者面前也必认他。」（路加福音 12:8）
除非我们正经历着面对关于自己每个欺骗的伤害，否则我们就阻碍了神话语在我们生活中的工作。神的话语给我们带来的伤害比罪更甚，因为罪使我们的感官迟钝。但主的这个问题强化我们的敏感度到了极点，以至于耶稣所带来的伤害是可以想象到的最强烈的痛苦。这不仅在天然层面上带来痛苦，且在更深层次的灵性层面上也是如此。「因为神的道是活泼的，是有功效的…甚至魂与灵，骨节与骨髓，都能刺入、剖开…」——甚至到了没有任何欺骗可以存留的地步（希伯来书4:12）。当主问我们这个问题时，我们不可能正确地思考和回应，因为当主直接对我们说话时，痛苦太过强烈了。它造成如此巨大的痛苦，以至于我们生活中任何与祂的旨意不合的部分都会感到痛苦。祂的儿女们从来不会感到误解主的话语之痛，但感受到痛苦的那一刻，正是神向我们启示祂真理的时刻。
来自章伯斯的智慧
我们可能对神的观念像把熔化的铅倒入专门设计的模具中，那是极具危险性的，当它冷却凝固后，我们就把它扔到不同意我们观点的宗教人士的头上。《真的门徒》
0301 The Piercing Question
Do you love Me? —John 21:17
Peter’s response to this piercing question is considerably different from the bold defiance he exhibited only a few days before when he declared, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (Matthew 26:35; also see Matthew 26:33-34). Our natural individuality, or our natural self, boldly speaks out and declares its feelings. But the true love within our inner spiritual self can be discovered only by experiencing the hurt of this question of Jesus Christ. Peter loved Jesus in the way any natural man loves a good person. Yet that is nothing but emotional love. It may reach deeply into our natural self, but it never penetrates to the spirit of a person. True love never simply declares itself. Jesus said, “Whoever confesses Me before men [that is, confesses his love by everything he does, not merely by his words], him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8).
Unless we are experiencing the hurt of facing every deception about ourselves, we have hindered the work of the Word of God in our lives. The Word of God inflicts hurt on us more than sin ever could, because sin dulls our senses. But this question of the Lord intensifies our sensitivities to the point that this hurt produced by Jesus is the most exquisite pain conceivable. It hurts not only on the natural level, but also on the deeper spiritual level. “For the Word of God is living and powerful…, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit…”— to the point that no deception can remain (Hebrews 4:12). When the Lord asks us this question, it is impossible to think and respond properly, because when the Lord speaks directly to us, the pain is too intense. It causes such a tremendous hurt that any part of our life which may be out of line with His will can feel the pain. There is never any mistaking the pain of the Lord’s Word by His children, but the moment that pain is felt is the very moment at which God reveals His truth to us.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us. –Disciples Indeed