His Commission to Us

Feed My sheep —John 21:17

This is love in the making. The love of God is not created— it is His nature. When we receive the life of Christ through the Holy Spirit, He unites us with God so that His love is demonstrated in us. The goal of the indwelling Holy Spirit is not just to unite us with God, but to do it in such a way that we will be one with the Father in exactly the same way Jesus was. And what kind of oneness did Jesus Christ have with the Father? He had such a oneness with the Father that He was obedient when His Father sent Him down here to be poured out for us. And He says to us, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21).

Peter now realizes that he does love Him, due to the revelation that came with the Lord’s piercing question. The Lord’s next point is— “Pour yourself out. Don’t testify about how much you love Me and don’t talk about the wonderful revelation you have had, just ’Feed My sheep.’ ” Jesus has some extraordinarily peculiar sheep: some that are unkempt and dirty, some that are awkward or pushy, and some that have gone astray! But it is impossible to exhaust God’s love, and it is impossible to exhaust my love if it flows from the Spirit of God within me. The love of God pays no attention to my prejudices caused by my natural individuality. If I love my Lord, I have no business being guided by natural emotions— I have to feed His sheep. We will not be delivered or released from His commission to us. Beware of counterfeiting the love of God by following your own natural human emotions, sympathies, or understandings. That will only serve to revile and abuse the true love of God.

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放不下的使命

你餵養我的羊。 （約二十一17）

這是愛的模造。神的愛不是被造的，乃是他的本性。我們一接受了聖靈，他就使我們與神聯合，神的愛就藉我們彰顯出來。人的心靈藉著聖靈的內住與神聯合，並不就完事；我們是要與父合一，正如耶穌與父合一一樣。耶穌與父的合一是怎樣的呢？就是父差他到時間來，為我們竭盡所有。然後說：[父怎樣差遣了我，我也照樣差 遣他們。 ]

彼得這時被主刺心的問話啟示，體會自己真的愛主；接著就是將自己耗盡。主對他說：[你不必見證你怎樣愛我，也不必宣告你所得的超奇啟示，只要餵養我的羊。 ]耶穌有許多奇特古怪的羊，有骯髒的羊，有粗魯好鬥的羊，還有迷路的羊！神的愛從不會枯乾，人的愛若從同一源泉發出，也就同樣的不會枯乾。神的愛是不理會 那個性中的差異。我若愛主，就不該受天然性情所左右；我必須餵養他的羊。這使命是不容間斷的。但當心不可依照人天然的同情心去假冒神的愛，否則就是褻瀆神 的愛。

祈禱◆噢，主啊，但願我所有的思想、情感和說話，都蘊含著愛－－對你的完全之愛，並透過它來與人接觸。