懷疑天主對人類的愛，有很多種形式。亞當厄娃吃了天主禁止他們吃的知善惡樹上的果子，是一個例子；抱怨天主讓義人無辜受苦，不出手相救，是一個例子；當看見惡人受苦，便額手稱慶，大快人心時，又是一個例子！這些都不是貼身的事件，要保持客觀和理性，對待惡人，不太困難。倘若是那些搶奪我們財產的人或者傷害我們親人，要置我們死地的人，要愛他們，談何容易！但你可否知道，不愛他們，其實表現出你正在懷疑天主對你的愛，這真是一個極大的試探！
誠然，猶太人對默西亞的期待仍然是有破綻的，因為他們沒有擺脫憎恨仇人的情緒，忘記了猶太人與羅馬人之間的關係，是天主肖像與天主肖像之間的關係，有彼此守護的責任（創4:9）！即使我的兄弟沒有履行他的守護責任，傷害了我，難道我要跟他一樣，不履行我的守護責任，不去為他的神益祈求天父嗎？的確，拯溺救人的大前提，是自身的安全！倘若我們祈求天父手出懲罰那些迫害我們的人，我們又一次懷疑天父對我們的愛了。這樣，你安全嗎?
父啊！請賜下聖神，幫助我們記起基督的教訓，溫暖我們的愛心，不怕因愛而痛。亞孟！
生命恩泉
The Father's Series (II) (Matthew 5:43-48)
Doubting God's love for humanity appears in many forms. Adam and Eve's eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil is one example; complaining God for allowing the righteous to suffer unnecessarily and not extending a helping hand is another; We are jubilant when we see the wicked suffer is yet another! But all those things are not close to us. It is not difficult for us to maintain our objectivity and rationality in dealing with the wicked in these cases. However, it is not so easy to love those who plunder our property, or hurt our family members or even attempt to take our lives! But don't you know that not loving them reveals your doubt of God's love for you? What a great temptation!
You may complain, "Heavenly Father! My enemies are doing me harm. Why don't You stop them? Do You want to see me suffer? Do You enjoy seeing me suffer …" Look! We easily forget to be grateful for things we haven't asked for. On the contrary, we grumble whatever we find unpleasant! Our problem lies in our not knowing history, forgetting that out of love, God made use of the Assyrians and Babylonians to chasten the Israelites from idolatry and return to His embrace. Surely the pains of being conquered dwarf our frustration! Being conquered did not make the Israelites doubt God's love or question God's promise to David. On the contrary, deep in their hearts, they anticipated the coming of the Messiah. Then, do frustrations trigger your desire for God's redemption?
Frankly, the Messianic anticipation of the Jews was flawed because they were unable to shake off their anger against their oppressors. They forgot that their relation with the Romans was a relation between God's images. They are supposed to be keepers of each other (Genesis 4:9)! Even if my brother refuses to be my keeper and does me harm, should I do the same, refusing my responsibility as a keeper to pray for his spiritual good? Indeed, the prerequisite to be a life-guard is to ensure his own safety! If you pray to the Father to punish those who persecute you, once again you doubt the Father's love for you. Then are you in safety?
Heavenly Father! Grant us the Holy Spirit. Help us remember the teachings of Christ. Inflame our heart to love until it hurts. Amen!
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