林后十二15 我极其喜欢为你们花费，并完全花上自己。难道我越发爱你们，就越发少得你们的爱么？

　　林后七3 ……我先前说过，你们是在我们的心里，以至同死同活。

　　我们若有才能执行一项工作，但缺少亲密的关切，我们的工作就不会结果子。要建立美好的家庭生活和召会生活，需要亲密的关切。我们能结多少果子，……乃在于我们是否有亲密的关切。

　　只要我们对人有合式的关切，我们就会渐渐够资格被神使用，使别人得救。这一点在《见与闻》一书中，有非常好的见证。作者麦雅各（Dennis McKendrick）在这本书中告诉我们，他站在一群不信者面前只是痛哭流涕，一句话也说不出来，然而却有许多人得救，因为他有深挚的关切。口才、恩赐、能力，都不能像你对人的关切那样深深地摸着人（哥林多后书生命读经，四五○至四五一页）。

　　2 Cor. 12:15 But I, I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent on behalf of your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved less?

　　7:3 …I have said before that you are in our hearts for our dying together and our living together.

　　If we have ability to carry on a work but lack an intimate concern, our work will be fruitless. What is needed to establish a good family life and church life is intimate concern. How fruitful we are, how much fruit we bear,…depends on whether or not we have an intimate concern.

　　As long as we have the proper concern for people, we are well on our way to be qualified to be used of God for their salvation. A very good testimony of this is in the book Seen and Heard. In that book, the writer, James M’Kendrick, tells us of standing in front of a group of unbelievers and weeping, without saying a word. Nevertheless, a number were saved, for he had a deep concern. Eloquence, gift, and power can never touch people as deeply as your concern for them. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 382-383)

　　假如我们有亲密的关切，我们对人就会很柔和。一个粗鲁、感觉迟钝的人，对人不会有亲密的关切。作丈夫的对妻子若没有合式的关切，就可能只会严厉地对待她、要求她。但他若有亲密的关切，就会柔软下来。我们一旦是柔软的，连我们说话的方式也是柔和、甜美的（哥林多后书生命读经，四五九页）。

　　林后二章四节：“我先前由于许多的患难，和心中的困苦，多多地流泪，写信给你们，不是要叫你们忧愁，乃是要叫你们知道，我对你们的爱是格外充盈的。”我们知道，哥林多前书是因为保罗听见革来氏家里的人说到哥林多信徒的情形而写的。其中保罗指出了他们种种的错处，用顶直、顶严厉的话责备他们。现在哥林多后书这地方，就是说保罗怎么写前书。他说，我是由于许多的患难，和心中的困苦，多多地流泪而写的。

　　当你听见一个弟兄，或是一个姊妹跌倒了，你有没有像保罗那样的痛哭流泪呢？……弟兄！你有没有力量来流泪呢？我们看见，保罗写信给哥林多人，他的话说得多么严厉，真是如刀刺似的。……一件事是定规的，就是若要你所说的话能伤人，必须先伤了你自己；若自己没有先被刺的，必定不会刺别人。保罗真是这样的人，他在前书说最重最难受的话时，他是一面流泪，一面说话的。在他话还没有说出，别人没有感觉痛苦之先，他自己已经先感觉痛苦了。所以若要叫人难受，自己必须先要照样难受过。若是单要叫别人伤心的，永远不成。因此每一个为主作工的人，不能不在流泪上有经历。换句话说，凡看见弟兄跌倒、失败，自己不流泪的，他就不配作主的工，更不配去指摘或劝勉人。你要去责备一个弟兄，或是姊妹，或是告诉他有什么事错了，自己必须先感觉到那难受，和话语的尖利，才能有资格。说人短处容易，流泪着说难。但是，唯有流泪的，才配说。

　　感谢神，祂儿子的血落在地上没有回去，可以使人因之得着救恩。感谢神，祂儿子的眼泪也没有回去，说出祂思念的心，叫我们在神和人的面前，也会流泪。所以让我们在祷告和工作上，效法我们的主所作的，多滴下一些泪吧！（倪柝声文集第一辑第十九册，八五至八七页）。

　　参读：哥林多后书生命读经，第四十四至四十五篇；对同工长老们以及爱主寻求主者爱心的话，第二章。

　　If we have an intimate concern, we shall be tender with others. A crude, insensitive person does not have an intimate concern. If a husband does not have a proper concern for his wife, he may be very strict and demanding of her. But having an intimate concern will cause him to be tender. Once we become tender, our way of speaking will be soft and sweet. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, p. 389)

　　Second Corinthians 2:4 says, “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you through many tears, not that you would be made sorrowful but that you would know the love which I have more abundantly toward you.” We know that Paul wrote the first Epistle to the Corinthians when he heard from the household of Chloe about the condition of the Corinthian believers. Paul pointed out all their mistakes and rebuked them with the most severe and frank word. Now in the second Epistle he told them how he wrote the first Epistle. He said that he did it out of much affliction and anguish of heart and through many tears.

　　When you hear of a brother or a sister backsliding, would you weep like Paul did?…Brothers, do you have the strength to weep? You saw how severe Paul’s words to the Corinthians were; they were like sharp knives….One thing is sure: if you want your words to pierce others, they must first pierce you. If they have never pierced you, they can never pierce others. Paul was indeed such a person. While he was writing the strongest words in the first Epistle, he was doing it in tears. Before he spoke, and before others felt the pain, he felt the pain. Therefore, if you want others to feel the pain, you must first feel the pain. It will never work if you only want others to be sorrowful. For this reason, every worker of the Lord must be experienced in the matter of tears. In other words, all those who do not shed tears when they see their brothers falling and failing are not worthy to do the Lord’s work, and they are not qualified to rebuke or exhort others. If you want to rebuke a brother, or if you want to tell him about something that he has done wrong, you must first feel the pain and the sharpness of the words before you are qualified to rebuke. It is easy to point out others’ shortcomings, but it is difficult to say it with tears. However, only those who have tears are qualified to speak.

　　Thank the Lord that the blood of His Son was shed on earth and was not retracted. Man can receive salvation through this blood. Thank the Lord that the tears of His Son were also not retracted. They tell us that He is mindful of us, and they also induce us to shed tears before God and before men. May we imitate our Lord in our prayers and in our work, and may we shed more tears! (CWWN, vol. 19, pp. 496-497)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msgs. 44-45; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord,” ch. 2