所罗门之歌包含了对爱情的生动描述:

“爱像死亡一样坚强: 激情如地狱般不屈; 它的燃烧就像火的燃烧, 耶和华的火焰! 众水不能浇熄爱情; 河流无法将其冲走. (甚至) 如果一个男人为了爱情付出他家的所有财富, 它会 (仍然) 被谴责为鄙视!” (Song 8:6-7)

还有使徒保罗, 在他关于爱情的著名章节中, 说它…

“承载万物, 相信一切事物, 希望所有的事情, 凡事忍耐. 爱永远不会失败。” (1Cor 13:7-8)

然而, 以其所有的力量和耐力, 爱情有其内在的弱点: 它不能强迫; 为了爱, 完全是爱, 必须是自愿选择.

巨大的劣势

这使得任何选择爱的方式的人都处于巨大的劣势.

我想起广告牌上宣扬文字的故事, “温柔的人将继承大地。”下面写着一些俏皮话, “呃……如果你们同意的话。”

The reality is that those bent on self-interest will use whatever means they can to get their way – and the more power they can wield, the more they are likely to succeed.

In the long run, maybe – but is it enough?

Most of us can see that love is the better way. And most of us harbour the hope that love will eventually triumph. Even the worst tyrannies seem ultimately to fall: but it’s a long road; many suffer and die along the way. And in the course of the struggle, how often do the would-be liberators become the next generation of oppressors?

To fight for love, without destroying it, is the hardest thing in the world. 的确, to fight to defend one’s own right to receive love would seem like a contradiction in terms. Yet most of us would consider that one who fights, at risk of their own safety and comfort, to protect the right of others is displaying love in its highest form.

Step up, the Champion

That is why love needs a champion – one who is prepared to love and defend others at no matter what cost to himself. But that champion, to defend the weak, must be prepared to overpower the strong that insist on using their freedoms to exploit others. So how does he avoid the charge that he has become the new oppressor by denying the exploiters their freedom to choose?

Turn with me for a moment to the Book of Revelation, 章 5:

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 我看到一位强大的天使大声宣告, “谁配打破封印，打开书卷?”

… 我哭啊哭，因为没有人找到值得打开书卷或看看里面的人. 然后一位长辈对我说, “别哭! 看, 犹大支派的狮子, 大卫的根, 已经胜利了. 他能够打开书卷及其七印。” 然后我看到了一只羔羊, 看起来好像已经被杀了…

他来了，拿走了卷轴 … 当他接过它时, 四活物和二十四位长老俯伏在羔羊面前. … 他们唱了一首新歌: “你配拿走书卷并打开它的封印, 因为你被杀了, 你们用你们的血从各个部落、语言、民族和国家为上帝买来了人。” (Rev. 5:1-9, 无创通气, 缩写的)

这个场景的书卷代表了上帝对恶人的审判，而看起来像被宰杀的羔羊的狮子就是耶稣. 但为什么他是唯一配执行这个审判的人?

嗯，首先, 最明显的是, 因为他放弃了自己的生命，所以我们可以得到宽恕并恢复与上帝的关系 – 纯粹的爱的行为. 其次是因为, 自己作为一个人生活和受苦, 没有人能告诉他, “你不明白我是什么感觉。”

但还有一个原因.

站在你这一边的法官

想一想. 如果您即将被带到法官面前接受您的罪行, 你会不会极度希望他会喜欢你并想办法让你无罪? 耶稣是最完美的法官，也是我们完美的捍卫者，因为没有人能像他一样渴望宣判你无罪.

早在你关心他之前 (或其他人), 他非常爱你, 在你的地方受苦. 为你做了这一切, 你认为他现在对你的命运漠不关心吗? 不! 他正在寻找一件事, 并且只有一件事: 证据表明你已经从自私的生活转向了从他倾注给你的爱中流淌出来的生活.