Imitating Your Father -效仿你们的天父

以弗所书  第五章

5 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

5.所以你们要效法神，像他亲生的儿女一样。

2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour

2.并且要以爱行事，正如基督爱我们，为我们舍己，当作馨香的供物和祭品献给神。

IMITATING YOUR FATHER

效仿你们的天父

Paul finished the last chapter by stating that we have to be tender-hearted towards one another. He starts this one, with this amazing statement： be like your Father.

保罗在最后一章中指出，我们必须彼此宽容体谅。而他在这章开头就提出了一个令人惊叹的观点：要像你们的天父那样行事。

Paul states that we have been forgiven back at the end of chapter 4, so what do we have to do? We have to imitate or follow our father in forgiving others. We have to follow him, as children follow their parents. Have you ever seen a young child with his parents? He/she doesn’t get separated from them, he/she is totally dependent on them and likewise, we have to be like that in our relationship with our heavenly Father.

保罗说，在第 4 章的结尾处我们已经得到了宽恕，那么我们接下来该怎么做呢？我们应当效仿或遵循我们的天父，去宽恕他人。我们应当追随他，就像孩子追随他们的父母一样。你有没有见过小孩子和他们的父母在一起的情景？他/她不会与他们分开，他/她完全依赖他们，同样地，在我们与天父的关系中，我们也应当如此。

Our walk with our Father is so important and it will reflect on our walk with our brothers and sisters. We have to have the same love walk with them. Jesus gave himself for us, and he sacrificed his life for us. Likewise, we need to sacrifice ourselves for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen!

我们与天父的交流是如此重要，它将影响我们与兄弟姐妹之间的交流。我们必须与他们一同秉持同样的爱。耶稣为我们舍弃了自己的生命，他为我们的生命付出了代价。同样地，我们也需要为信仰中的兄弟姐妹们献出自己。阿们！

Peter asked Jesus how much he should forgive. Jesus said 70 times 7，thats 490. I don’t think anyone would need to be forgiven all that many times, except maybe us. How many times have we asked for forgiveness from the Lord for the same sin?

彼得问耶稣，他应该宽恕他人多少次。耶稣回答说，70个7次，就是490次。我认为没有人需要被宽恕这么多次，除了我们。我们为同样的罪过向主祈求宽恕，有多少次呢？

So why can’t we forgive others? We have been forgiven freely, so let’s forgive freely.

那么，为什么我们不能宽恕他人呢？我们曾被他人无条件地宽恕，那我们为何不能也无条件地去宽恕他人呢？

God forgives us and restores us and we must imitate him by doing the same to others. Are you?

神会宽恕我们并让我们恢复如初，而我们也应当效仿神，以同样的方式对待他人。你是吗？

God bless you!