Our love for Christ is only as real as our love for our neighbor.

真心爱主，就会爱邻舍。

Though you have not seen him, you love him. 1 Peter 1:8

你们虽然没有见过祂，却是爱祂。-彼得前书1章8节

Like others in the blogging community, I’d never met the man known to us as BruceC. Yet when his wife posted a note to the group to let us know that her husband had died, a string of responses from distant places showed we all knew we had lost a friend.

我和其他阅读这个博客社区的人一样，从来没有见过这位自称为布鲁斯·西的人。但是当他太太在博客社区贴文，发布丈夫布鲁斯·西去世的消息，从一连串来自不同地区的回应可以看出，我们都知道自己失去了一位朋友。

BruceC had often opened his heart to us. He talked freely about his concern for others and what was important to him. Many of us felt like we knew him. We would miss the gentle wisdom that came from his years in law enforcement and his faith in Christ.

布鲁斯·西对我们总是以诚相待。在博客社区中，他坦率地表达自己对其他人的关怀，以及他所看重的事物，我们当中许多人觉得他就像是我们的朋友。他是执法多年的基督徒，他的文章中充满智慧，让人怀念。

In recalling our online conversations with BruceC, I gained a renewed appreciation for words written by a first-century witness of Jesus. In the first New Testament letter the apostle Peter wrote, he addressed readers scattered throughout the Roman Empire: “Though you have not seen [Christ], you love him” (1 Peter 1:8).

回顾我与布鲁斯·西在网络上的交谈，让我对第一世纪耶稣的见证人所说的话有了新的见解。使徒彼得在他所写的第一封新约书信中，向分散在罗马帝国各地的信徒说：「你们虽然没有见过祂，却是爱祂。」（彼得前书1章8节）

Peter, as a personal friend of Jesus, was writing to people who had only heard about the One who had given them reason for so much hope in the middle of their troubles. Yet, as a part of the larger community of believers, they loved Him. They knew that at the price of His own life, He had brought them into the everlasting family of God.

彼得是耶稣亲近的朋友，他特地写信给那些没见过耶稣的信徒。这些人只是听说那位耶稣可以在他们遭遇困难时，带给他们盼望。即便如此，这些人和其他众多信徒一样爱着主耶稣，因为他们知道耶稣以祂自己的生命为代价，带领他们进入上帝永恒的家。

Lord, we have never seen You, yet we believe in You and love You. Strengthen our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ who love You as well. Make us one community in You.

主啊，我们从来没有见过祢，

但是我们相信祢并且爱祢。
求祢坚固我们对弟兄姐妹的爱，
因他们也爱祢，使我们在祢里面合一。

??1 Peter? ?1:1-9? ?NIV??

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

整理：于姊妹