Title: The Blessing of Unchanging Love
Contents
< The importance of unchanging love >
The apostle Paul sent Tychicus, a sincere worker, to make the Ephesians aware of his condition in Roman prison and to comfort the Ephesians (verses 21-22). Look at the man in the prison comforting the man outside the prison. The apostle Paul had the unchanging faith that could overcome any circumstance. Also, as he concludes the book of Ephesians, he sincerely blesses the Ephesians and exhorts them to love the Lord unchangingly (verses 23-24).
If you want grace, there must be no change. If you apostatize according to your interests (利害關係), there is no 'interest', only 'harm (害)'. Also, beware of 'capriciousness'. Caprice makes a person tired. Capricious people say that when they say they like it, they pretend to eat all their own flesh, but after a while they turn completely around and don't want to see the way they look. Sometimes they do it for no apparent reason. A whim with no obvious reason is a sign of immaturity, such as when you buy a toy for your children, they like it at first and then don't even look at it.
Unchanging love and devotion to the Lord. When making a dedication, do not make a dedication with blessings in mind. True dedication is giving yourself without calculation. That is why you should commit yourself with a pure motive, with a grateful heart, without expecting any reward. Why are there hurts and disappointments? Because you want to be rewarded. After all, true commitment is usually judged with time. Although it may seem innocent at the moment, true dedication remains to be seen.
How consistently you do it is more important than what you do. Success in life is not important. It is important to live a righteous, one-way life, to live a life of constant truth and loyalty. It's more important to keep your place unchanged for a long time than the fact that you fasted and prayed for several days on the mountain. It's a dedication once or twice. Who can't? What is important is constant dedication.
< Blessings of unchanging love >
No matter what life's crises, never deny the Lord with your heart, mind, and lips. Polycarp, the bishop of the Smyrna Church and a disciple of the Apostle John, knew of his fame and offered to spare him if he denied Jesus just once, but he was martyred in the end so as not to deny the Lord even once. If there is no alteration, the arrow of blessing towards me will not deviate.
What blessings do you receive when you love the Lord unchangingly? First, find peace (verse 23). Second, we gain love that combines faith (verse 23). Third, God's grace is given (verse 24). As we live, we sometimes encounter difficult situations. Even then, if you continue to love God, God will lead your life ahead of you.
People sometimes get depressed. Depression is usually caused by the “worthlessness of oneself” caused by past shame. Pray whenever you are depressed. "God! Go back to the past and touch my broken heart.” Then God will speak. “The past is not important. You are always valuable to me, both in the past and in the present.”
When the wounds feel great and a sense of inferiority arises, the rejection of one's entire existence as that emotion is usually expressed as depression. Don't fall for those feelings. God's grace is enough to cover the wounds of the past. Furthermore, God's grace is sufficient to turn the wounds of the past into a source of creative life. As such, the most important thing to man is ‘God’s grace’. When will that grace be given? It is given when you love the Lord unchangingly.