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哥林多前书：16:13-14: 13你们务要警醒，在真道上站立得稳，要作大丈夫，要刚强。14凡你们所做的，都要凭爱心而做。
作为基督徒，我们需要谨慎、勇敢、刚强、坚定，但与此同时，也要凭着爱心去做每一件事。这两方面看上去似乎有些互相排斥，但实际上并非如此。在我们的罪性中，这两方面是相互排斥的，但在我们的新生命里，我们可以同时勇敢又充满爱心，刚强又温柔，坚定又谦卑。
从这个意义上说，我们的新生命就仿佛一面镜子，反射出上帝的形象，因为这是他在我们里面创造的。上帝自己就是既坚定又充满爱心。在他的真理上，他是坚定不屈的，他不会因为任何理由而改变或妥协。他将他的诫命摆在我们面前，期望我们能够谨守遵行，如果我们不遵行就会受到惩罚。他这样做不是因为他苛刻小气，而是出于他对我们深深的爱。他知道我们若在真理上妥协，必将导致我们死亡，而不是生命。
与此同时，他处处都彰显了他的爱。他是这样一位上帝，竟然关心一只掉在地上的麻雀。他是这样一位上帝，有无尽的恩慈和宽恕，即使他的儿子任意放荡，花光了他的产业，他仍然欢迎他回家。他是这样一位上帝，他并没有降低自己的标准来接纳我们，而是在十字架上降卑自己以至于死，来救赎我们。
在神的心里，刚强和慈爱并不矛盾。在我们的心里也应该如此。祷告：主啊，请赐给我一颗像你那样的心，一颗在真理上不妥协，而同时充满温柔和慈爱的心。阿们。
1 Corinthians 16: 13 Keep alert. Stand firm in the faith. Demonstrate manly courage. Be strong. 14 Let everything you do be done in love. (EHV)
As Christians, we need to be wary and tough and strong and firm, while at the same time doing everything in love. Those seem to be mutually exclusive, but they are not. They are mutually exclusive in our sinful nature, but in our new person we can be tough and loving, strong and gentle, firm and humble at the same time.
In that sense, in our new person we are mirroring the image of God, which he created in us. Because God is both tough and loving at the same time. He is unbending and tough when it comes to his truth. He will not bend it or compromise it for any reason at all. He places his commandments in front of us with the expectation that we will keep them, and with the threat of punishment if we don’t. He does this, not out of meanness, but out of his deep love for us. He knows that for us to compromise his truth in our lives leads to death and not life.
At the same time he is the embodiment of love in every way. Imagine a God who cares even if a sparrow falls to the ground. Imagine a God who is infinitely kind and forgiving, who receives his children back even though they have spent themselves and degraded themselves in wild living. Imagine a God who does not lower his standards in order to receive us, but who humbled himself on the cross in order to redeem us.
To be tough and loving is not a contradiction in God’s heart. And not in ours, either.
Prayer: Lord God, give me a heart like yours, a heart that does not compromise the truth and a heart that is tender and loving at the same time. Amen.