天父之爱，无与伦比。

I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. Jeremiah 31:3

我以永远的爱爱你，因此我以慈爱吸引你。-耶利米书31章3节

“Lovable!” 

That exclamation came from my daughter as she got ready one morning. I didn’t know what she meant. Then she tapped her shirt, a hand-me-down from a cousin. Across the front was that word: “Lovable.” I gave her a big hug, and she smiled with pure joy. “You are lovable!” I echoed. Her smile grew even bigger, if that was possible, as she skipped away, repeating the word over and over again.

一天早上，年幼的女儿穿戴整齐时，我忽然听到她口中迸出一句话：“可爱！”我感到莫名其妙，她拍拍穿着的衬衫，那是她表姐传给她的二手衬衫，上面印着“可爱”二字。我给她一个大大的拥抱，她笑得很开心。我说：“妳真可爱！”她的笑容更加灿烂，蹦跳着离开，口里重复说着：“可爱！可爱！可爱！”

I’m hardly a perfect father. But that moment was perfect. In that spontaneous, beautiful interaction, I glimpsed in my girl’s radiant face what receiving unconditional love looked like: It was a portrait of delight. She knew the word on her shirt corresponded completely with how her daddy felt about her.

我不是一位完美的父亲，但这一瞬间却是完美无缺。在这自然美好的互动中，我从女儿容光焕发的脸庞上，看到人得到无条件之爱的喜悦：这是一幅令人愉悦的图像。女儿知道印在那件衬衫上的字，正是父亲对她的观感。

How many of us know in our hearts that we are loved by a Father whose affection for us is limitless? Sometimes we struggle with this truth. The Israelites did. They wondered if their trials meant God no longer loved them. But in Jeremiah 31:3, the prophet reminds them of what God said in the past: “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” We too long for such unconditional love. Yet the wounds, disappointments, and mistakes we experience can make us feel anything but lovable. But God opens His arms—the arms of a perfect Father—and invites us to experience and rest in His love.

我们的心里是否知道，天父对我们的爱无限无量呢？但有时候，我们却怀疑这个事实，以色列百姓就是如此。当试炼临到时，他们以为这意味着上帝不再爱他们。但在耶利米书31章3节，先知提醒他们，上帝曾说：“我以永远的爱爱你。”我们都渴望得着这种无条件的爱，可惜我们所经历的伤痛、灰心和失败，只会让我们感到自己是不可爱的。但上帝这位完美的天父正张开双臂，邀请我们去经历祂的爱，投靠在祂爱的怀抱里。

主啊，生活中的艰困常使我们觉得自己不可爱，但祢以永远的爱来爱我们。求祢帮助我们，领受祢永远的爱，即那更新我们生命的恩典。

Jeremiah 31:1-6  NIV

31 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.” 2 This is what the Lord says: “The people who survive the sword will find favor in the wilderness; I will come to give rest to Israel.” 3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. 4 I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful. 5 Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant them and enjoy their fruit. 6 There will be a day when watchmen cry out on the hills of Ephraim,‘Come, let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.’”

耶利米书 31:1-6 

31 耶和华说：“那时，我必做以色列各家的神，他们必做我的子民。” 2 耶和华如此说：“脱离刀剑的，就是以色列人，我使他享安息的时候，他曾在旷野蒙恩。 3 古时耶和华向以色列显现，说：‘我以永远的爱爱你，因此我以慈爱吸引你。’ 4 以色列的民哪，我要再建立你，你就被建立。你必再以击鼓为美，与欢乐的人一同跳舞而出。 5 又必在撒马利亚的山上栽种葡萄园，栽种的人要享用所结的果子。 6 日子必到，以法莲山上守望的人必呼叫说：‘起来吧！我们可以上锡安，到耶和华我们的神那里去。’”

INSIGHT

灵粮透视

Much of the book of Jeremiah deals with the prophet’s anguished appeal for God’s people to turn back to Him. Those pleas were ignored, making judgment inevitable. But God’s love is relentless, and in chapters 30–31 Jeremiah gives hope to the remnant who would live through the coming invasion. “The people who survive the sword will find favor in the wilderness,” God said (31:2). This “favor” would show up in ways the scattered survivors likely thought no longer possible. What the invading horde destroyed, God would rebuild, causing the people to “take up [their] timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful” (v. 4). Their farmers would plant fruitful vineyards (v. 5). No longer would watchmen cry out in warning, but would instead call the people to Zion (Jerusalem) for worship (v. 6).

耶利米书有很多地方都提到，先知以沉痛的心情呼吁上帝的子民回转归向上帝。但人们却漠视先知的呼声，以致必须面对审判。然而，上帝的爱却从未改变，耶利米在30-31章，将盼望带给犹大国的余民，就是那些在即将来临的侵略中幸存的人。他告诉他们上帝说：“在刀剑下幸存的人民，在旷野蒙受了恩宠”（31章2节，新译本）。这“恩宠”将以多种形式出现，是散居的幸存者无法想像的。但凡遭仇敌破坏之处，上帝将要重新建立，使祂的百姓“必再以击鼓为美，与欢乐的人一同跳舞而出”（4节）；农民栽种的葡萄园，必要结实累累（5节）；守望的人不再喊叫警戒的话，反要呼叫人上锡安（耶路撒冷）去敬拜（6节）。

When we begin to understand the scope of God’s love, we can accept His correction and learn from it. As we embrace His everlasting love, we find that God’s discipline is for our good and is proof that we are His children (see Hebrews 12:5–7).

当我们明白上帝的慈爱是何等长阔高深，就可以接受祂的管教，并从中吸取教训。只要我们接受上帝永恒的大爱，就会发现上帝的管教是让我们得益处，这也证明我们是祂的儿女（参阅希伯来书12章5-7节）。

Do you see God as our gentle and loving heavenly Father? In what ways have you sensed His loving correction?

你认为上帝是一位温柔慈爱的天父吗？你在哪些方面曾接受祂慈爱的管教呢？

整理：于姊妹