記得我在十多歲時參加了一次夏令營。營會的最後一晚，在一群嬉戲說笑的營友中，我獨自站在一邊，覺得自己與他們格格不入。當其中一人取笑我時，我頓時感覺受到傷害，馬上跑回我的營帳。當隊長來查看時，我便假裝睡覺。隔天早上，她想跟我談前一晚的事，但我卻刻意迴避。

後來，這位隊長寫信給我，幫助我瞭解上帝真的關心我。她引用使徒保羅的話說，我們可以「深信那在你們中間開始了美好工作的，到了基督耶穌的日子，必成全這工作」（腓立比書1章6節，新譯本）。我感覺這句話就像是對我說的。

那時保羅寫信給他十多年前建立的腓立比教會，鼓勵他們將對上帝和彼此的愛，建立「在充足的知識和各樣的見識上」（9節，同上）。當上帝使他們「靠著耶穌基督結滿了仁義的果子」（11節），便會在他們心裡並透過他們，成全祂的善工。在那個時候，我並不瞭解這段經文的背景，但我開始明白自己的身分，我是一個蒙上帝所愛的人，因我認識與接受耶穌的愛。

上帝渴望我們接受祂的愛，並使祂的愛在我們心裡多而又多。當祂用喜樂與平安充滿我們時，我們不僅對祂的認識日漸增長，也會更認識祂在我們生命中所成就的美事。

At the last night of summer camp, my teenage self felt conspicuous as I stood alone in a group of campers. When one of them mocked me, I felt hurt. I ran back to my tent, pretending to sleep when the group leader checked on me. The next morning I avoided her attempt to talk about it. 

She later wrote to me, helping me understand that God truly cared for me. She quoted from the apostle Paul: We can be “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). I felt like the apostle’s words were directed right to me.

Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, which he’d planted over a decade earlier, to encourage them to root their love for God and each other “in knowledge and depth of insight” (v. 9). God would carry on His work in and through them as He filled them “with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ” (v. 11). At the time I didn’t understand the original context, but I started to comprehend that my identity as one loved by God came from knowing and accepting the love of Jesus.

God desires that we receive His love and that it would abound in us more and more. As He fills us with His joy and peace, we’ll grow in the knowledge not only of Him but of His good work in us.