4月30日 自发的爱

爱是恒久忍耐，又有恩慈……（林前十三4-8）

爱不是预先精打细算，而是自然流露的，是不知不觉地涌现。保罗所举出的爱，不是清单式地计算出来。我们不能说：“好，现在我不再思想恶事，我要凡事相信。”爱的特质是自动自发。我们不是把耶稣的话摆在面前，当准则去遵行；而是当他的灵在我们里面自由作工，我们就不知不觉地照着他的标准去生活。当我们回顾过去的经历，就会诧异某种感情是如此公正无私，这就证明有真爱自然流露在其中。神的生命在我们里面，但每每等到我们经历过后，才恍然发觉。

爱的泉源是在神里面，而不是在我们里面。若想在自己天然性情中去找神的爱，简直是缘木求鱼。只有当圣灵将神的爱浇灌在我们心里，我们才有真正的爱。

若我们想向神证明是多么爱他，这正表示我们并不爱他；若要证明爱他，就要让爱自动自发地流露出来。回想起来，也说不出为何我们会这样做，是神的爱在里面流露，故我们有这样的表现。神的生命是自然的彰显，因为爱的泉源是在圣灵里面（罗五5）

祈祷◆噢，主啊，我何等需要被你的同在所充满和振奋。赐我在你里面得着愉快而宁静的信心，它正是圣灵的凭证。

April 30 The Spontaneity Of Love

“Love suffereth long, and is kind . . .” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is not premeditated, it is spontaneous, i.e., it bursts up in extraordinary ways. There is nothing of mathematical certainty in Paul’s category of love. We cannot say – “Now I am going to think no evil; I am going to believe all things.” The characteristic of love is spontaneity. We do not set the statements of Jesus in front of us as a standard; but when His Spirit is having His way with us, we live according to His standard with out knowing it, and on looking back we are amazed at the disinterestedness of a particular emotion, which is the evidence that the spontaneity of real love was there. In everything to do with the life of God in us, its nature is only discerned when it is past.

The springs of love are in God, not in us. It is absurd to look for the love of God in our hearts naturally, it is only there when it has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

If we try to prove to God how much we love Him, it is a sure sign that we do not love Him. The evidence of our love for Him is the absolute spontaneity of our love, it comes naturally. In looking back we cannot tell why we did certain things, we did them according to the spontaneous nature of His love in us. The life of God manifests itself in this spontaneous way because the springs of love are in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 5:5)