修补关系
哥林多后书十一章1至6节
1但愿你们宽容我这一点愚妄，其实你们原是宽容我的。
2我为你们起的愤恨，原是神那样的愤恨。因为我曾把你们许配一个丈夫，要把你们如同贞洁的童女，献给基督。
3我只怕你们的心或偏于邪，失去那向基督所存纯一清洁的心，就像蛇用诡诈诱惑了夏娃一样。
4假如有人来另传一个耶稣，不是我们所传过的；或者你们另受一个灵，不是你们所受过的；或者另得一个福音，不是你们所得过的；你们容让他也就罢了。
5但我想，我一点不在那些最大的使徒以下。
6我的言语虽然粗俗，我的知识却不粗俗。这是我们在凡事上向你们众人显明出来的。
信息分享
保罗要如何修补这段关系呢？我们若与人的关系出现裂痕，又该如何修补呢？你会努力找出是甚么因素造成双方关系的裂痕吗？单单提醒对方回想昔日的美好关系，是否足够呢？
保罗在这里要修补他与哥林多信徒的关系。他重提他昔日为他们所做的事。他在第2节说：「我就好像一个父亲，将女儿许配丈夫一样，把你们献给基督。」
昔日的婚姻习俗，要求父亲要看守女儿保持贞洁，直至结婚的日子。保罗认为自己就像属灵的父亲那样，要保持信徒的贞洁，直至他们将来面见基督的日子。
然而，他们却因听信假教师的教导，而失却对基督的忠贞。而且，那假教师还贬低保罗的名声，以致保罗与哥林多信徒的亲密关系遭到破坏，出现了裂痕。
我们当中许多人都有过类似经验。我们原本与某人是好友，却因某些事情的发生而产生隔阂。当遇到这种情况时，我们会怎样做呢？有些时候，可能需要当面说个明白；但更多的时候，是需要自我反省。无论如何，我们都应该用祷告和爱心去处理。
此刻，你是否与人有嫌隙呢？不要拖延处理。拖得愈久，愈难和解。基督教导我们要彼此相爱。所以，不要耽延，先祷告，寻求神的带领，然后作出行动，与对方和解。
MENDING RELATIONSHIPS
2 Corinthians 11:1-6
1 Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me.
2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
5 For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles.
6 Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. But we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things.
Message
What could Paul do to mend the relationship? How can anyone mend a broken friendship? Do you try to determine what has caused the rift? Is it enough to remind the one concerned of the past?
That is what Paul tried to do. He spoke of what he had done for them and with them. In v.2 Paul said, 'I gave you to Christ as a father gives his daughter to her future husband.'
The marriage customs then demanded that the girl's father was responsible to see his daughter being kept from any other attachment until her promised wedding day. Paul felt he had tried to do this spiritually for them.
However, somehow their commitment to Christ had been upset by false teachers. These men had also put down Paul's reputation. Consequently the close relationship between Paul and the Corinthian church had been broken.
Many of us know that experience, don't we? Something comes between us and a close friend. When it happens, what can we do? Sometimes confrontation is needed. Always it can mean heart- searching. Any action, any approach must be covered with prayer and made in love.
If this is your position just now, don't put off doing something about it. The longer the delay, the harder it is to act and to restore. What did Christ say? 'This is my commandment, that you love one another. 'Do it now. Do it today. Pray first, and then act as you are led.