Surrender and Reconcile

Today, 15 Aug is the anniversary of Japanese Surrender in the World War II. In Japan, there are nationwide anniversary activities, most of the slogans they used are "Let's bring peace to the world!" Widows of the dead Japanese soldiers said, "There is nothing good could war bring to anybody!"

When I watched JapaneseTV news seeing a secondary student reciding a poem in asking for peace of the world, her tearful eyes inspired me to think of : "What is the one step before we could see the peace of the world?" My answer is : "Peace among people, peace in family, peace between the relationship of the smallest cell of two persons and peace in individual's mind and heart."

Through out my past years of discipleship, I recognise that reconcilation with our Father God is the beginning of any awareness, faith and strength in knowing what is PEACE. With the peacefulness in our mind and heart, supported by God's unconditional love and endless resources, we could live in life with peace and love. From there, the relationship we establish among people and with our nature would be in chain of the same substance and be sustainable.

I, therefore, do not believe any peace of the world could be realized unless we have peace in individual's mind through the reconcilation with God. Then, how do we nurture our children in this aspect. Are we modelling the core value or are we still in full or as part of the hatred relationship? I would like to repent to grow as the very first tiny step to bring peace to the world. Amen!

「家庭關係」的自我反省與心意更新

以弗所書6:1-9說妻子要「順服」丈夫，順服是一種「甘心情願至死」的表現。另一方面，丈夫要「愛」自己的妻子，愛是意味著「無条件的犧牲」。兩者都帶有甚至獻上生命的終極意義，這樣的愛正是耶穌為世人的罪被釘十架的延續。

真正的「順服」是來自「敬畏神」。無論從舊約十誡的第一誡、傳道書的最終啟示及以弗所書5:21所說的 : 「你們要彼此順服，因為你們是敬畏基督的。」所以真正的夫妻的愛就相等於「彼此順服在基督的愛當中」。

兒女對父母的態度則是「聽從」。「聽從」這個字有上、下之間的關係，帶有「事事都順從」(路加福音2:51)的意思。同時以弗所書6:4說 : 「作父親的，你們不要激怒兒女，要用主的教導來養育裁培他們。」

「主的教導」非常清楚的，是指「聖經 - 上帝的話」。整本聖經教導給我們就是: (一) 要愛上帝， (二)要愛別人。愛上帝要從「敬畏衪」開始，而愛別人要從「捨己」開始。那麼作為父母的我們首先要清楚明白，甚至持有 「主的教導」的榜樣，才可以有分量地行使這教導的責任，令我們的兒女可以「聽從」並造就他們。

日本有一位宣教師名叫宮崎亮的醫生，他一生堅持地去愛及事奉非洲的奈及利亞人，甚至在選擇妻子時說 : 「要跟我結婚的人，就必湏跟我到非洲去。」後期兒女長大至入學年齡，宮崎醫生的父母及家人要求他們為了兒女的教育問題，一定要返回日本。宮崎醫生回答說 : 「父母的行為如果端正，孩子的教育已經完成一半，其他一半已經不重要了！」

可等大的信心啊！