“我要指示你们当怕的是谁…。” - 路 12:5

我上高中的时候，我父亲因癌症去世了。对我来说，那是一段非常可怕和孤独的时期。我有很多关于神和死亡的问题。我那时只有14岁，神怎么能带走我父亲呢？祂怎么能让一个爱人、慷慨分享福音的牧师遭受痛苦和死亡呢？我对神感到愤怒，并确信祂并不关心我。这些感觉让我充满了很多无望和惧怕。

耶稣与祂的门徒交谈时，谈到了一些我14岁时提出的问题。祂谈到了麻雀——一种常见的、价格低廉的鸟。耶稣向祂的门徒保证，如果神关心它们——是的，祂确实关心！那么神当然更关心我们每一个人。因此，耶稣提醒祂的门徒，“不要害怕…”

祂说，我们不应该害怕这个世界上任何可能伤害我们的人或事，我们唯一应该害怕的是神自己。毕竟，神把我们生命的方方面面都掌握在祂的手中。这可能看起来很吓人，但归根结底，神的掌管总是伴随着祂的看顾，所以我们不需要害怕祂会忘记我们。神对我们的爱比我们所能想像的还要大。无论发生什么事，神都爱我们，且因着这种爱呼召我们敬拜和尊崇祂。

祷告

慈爱的神，你对我们的关心超过我们的所求所想。无论我们经历什么，让我们藉着这一切来敬拜和尊崇你。阿们。

路加福音 12:1-12

1这时，有几万人聚集，甚至彼此践踏。耶稣开讲，先对门徒说：“你们要防备法利赛人的酵，就是假冒为善。
2掩盖的事没有不露出来的，隐藏的事没有不被人知道的。
3因此，你们在暗中所说的，将要在明处被人听见；在内室附耳所说的，将要在房上被人宣扬。
4我的朋友，我对你们说，那杀身体以后不能再做什么的，不要怕他们。
5我要指示你们当怕的是谁，当怕那杀了以后又有权柄丢在地狱里的。我实在告诉你们：正要怕他！
6五个麻雀不是卖二分银子吗？但在神面前，一个也不忘记。
7就是你们的头发，也都被数过了。不要惧怕，你们比许多麻雀还贵重。
8“我又告诉你们：凡在人面前认我的，人子在神的使者面前也必认他；
9在人面前不认我的，人子在神的使者面前也必不认他。
10凡说话干犯人子的，还可得赦免；唯独亵渎圣灵的，总不得赦免。
11人带你们到会堂，并官府和有权柄的人面前，不要思虑怎么分诉，说什么话，
12因为正在那时候，圣灵要指教你们当说的话。”

Whom You Should Fear

"I will show you whom you should fear. . . ." - Luke 12:5

When I was in high school, my dad died of cancer. That was a very frightening and lonely time for me. I had lots of questions about God and death. How could God take away my dad when I was only 14? How could he let someone who was a pastor who loved people and freely shared the gospel suffer and die? I was angry with God and was sure that he didn’t care about me. Those feelings filled me with a lot of hopelessness and fear.

As Jesus talks to his disciples, he addresses some of the same questions I had when I was 14. He talks about sparrows—a common and inexpensive bird. Jesus assures his followers that if God cares about them—and, yes, he does!—then of course God cares much more about each one of us. So Jesus reminds his disciples, “Do not be afraid. . . .”

Instead of fearing anyone or anything on this earth that might hurt us, he says, the only one we should fear is God himself. After all, God holds every part of our lives in his hands. That might seem frightening, but in the end, when God’s control is paired with his care for us, we don’t need to be afraid that God will forget about us. God’s love for us is greater than we can imagine. No matter what happens, God loves us and calls us to worship and adore him because of that love.

Prayer

Loving God, you care for us more than we could know. No matter what we go through, let us worship and adore you through it all. Amen.