1月12日
标 题：神的救赎之钥
经 节：使他们都合而为一。正如你父在我里面，我在你里面，使他们也在我们里面，叫世人可以信你差了我来。（约翰福音十七章21节）
神时常谈到人与人之间的关系，是祂救赎迷失世界工作的一部分（约翰福音十三：20；马太福音廿五：40）。祂要一男一女结为一体，生出“神圣的种子”，就是爱主、顺服主的后裔。而这敬虔的后裔能被神所使用，将救赎带给迷失世界（玛拉基书二：14～15）。同样地，教会是基督的身体。如果教会成员彼此争斗，教会不可能运行神交给她的任务（哥林多前书十二：12）。我们与他人的关系，对周围人们是否得到救赎，是非常重要的。
我们可能以为耶稣被钉死于十字架之前，会为门徒祷告，让他们有勇气，或者保持忠诚，或者让他们牢记所有的教导。相反地，祂为祂的跟随者祈求，能在爱里彼此合而为一。耶稣了解一个人不可能在灵里爱神，却不爱他人。
你对他人的爱心，是你真心爱神的试金石。我们的倾向是告诉神：“天父，问题不在??我之间。我全心全意爱??，只是我不爱我的弟兄。”神说这是不可能的！人不可能爱神，却不爱神儿子为其舍命的那个人（约翰福音十三：34～35）。如果你不能与基督徒弟兄姊妹们在爱里合一，你的生活没有办法使周遭的人相信耶稣基督的真实性。
The Key to God’s Redemptive Mission
That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. (John 17:21)
God often speaks of human relationships as a part of His mission to redeem a lost world (John 13:20; Matt. 25:40). One reason He gives for a husband and wife to live in unity is so they can produce a “godly seed,” that is, children who love and obey God, who can be used in God’s mission to bring redemption to a lost world_(Mal. 2:14–15). Similarly, the church is the body of Christ. A church cannot be on mission with the Father in our world if its members are waging war with one another_(1 Cor. 12:12). There is a crucial connection between our relationships with others and the salvation of those around us.
We might assume that during Jesus’ prayer before His crucifixion, He would have prayed that His disciples would have courage, or would remain faithful, or would remember what they had been taught. Yet He asked that His followers would remain united in their love for one another. Jesus understood that it is spiritually impossible to love God but not love others.
A test of your love for God is to examine your love for others. Our tendency is to say, “Heavenly Father, the problem is not between You and me. I love You with all my heart. I just don’t love my brother.” And God says, “That is an impossibility. You cannot love Me without loving the ones for whom My Son died” (John 13:34–35). Your life will not convince those around you of the reality of Jesus if you cannot live in unity with your fellow Christians.
