📖 Ukristo wa Kujitoa Kikamilifu: Amri Kumi za Yesu — Sehemu ya 3: Mpende Mungu📖 Radical Christianity: The Ten Commandments of Jesus — Unit 3: Love God

1. Swali Linalofunua Moyo1. The Question That Exposes the Heart

Mtu aliyeuliza alikuwa mtaalamu wa sheria, na maandiko yanasema waziwazi kwamba aliuliza ili amjaribu Yesu, si ili ajifunze kutoka kwake. Marabi walipenda kubishana kuhusu ni ipi kati ya amri mia sita na kumi na tatu iliyokuwa juu kuliko zote, wakitumaini kumnasa mwalimu katika upangaji wa kizembe. Yesu hakuingia katika mtego huo, wala hakusita. Alirudi kwenye Shema, ungamo ambalo kila Myahudi mwaminifu alilikariri kila siku kutoka Kumbukumbu la Torati 6, na akataja upendo kwa Mungu kuwa amri ya kwanza na iliyo kuu kuliko zote.The man who asked was an expert in the law, and the text says plainly he asked in order to test Jesus, not to learn from Him. The rabbis loved to argue over which of the six hundred and thirteen commands stood highest, hoping to catch a teacher in a careless ranking. Jesus did not take the bait, and He did not hesitate. He reached back to the Shema, the confession every faithful Jew recited daily from Deuteronomy 6, and named love for God as the first and greatest commandment of all.

Angalia jibu hilo linafanya nini. Linaliondoa swali lote kutoka juu juu ya kushika sheria kwa nje na kulipeleka chini hadi moyoni. Jambo kuu kuliko yote ambalo Mungu anadai si utendaji anaoweza kuukagua bali ni mapenzi ya moyo: upendo, unaotolewa kwa nafsi nzima. Huo ndio msingi ambao kozi hii yote imejengwa juu yake, na ndio msingi wa maisha ya Kikristo. Ipate amri hii sawasawa na amri nyingine zitakuwa na mahali pa kukulia; ikose na kila amri nyingine itakuwa mzigo.Notice what that answer does. It moves the whole question off the surface of outward rule-keeping and drives it down to the heart. The greatest thing God requires is not a performance He can audit but an affection: love, given with the whole self. That is the foundation this entire course is built on, and it is the foundation of the Christian life. Get this command right and the others have somewhere to grow from; get it wrong and every other command becomes a burden.

2. Upendo Ulio Kamili, na Upendo wa Kiwango2. A Love That Is Total, and a Love of Degree

Kifungu hiki kinatuambia kwamba msingi hasa wa Ukristo ni upendo kwa Mungu. Hilo ni jambo rahisi kulizungumzia — mtu yeyote anaweza kusema "Nampenda Bwana," na wengi husema hivyo, ndani ya kanisa na nje yake. Lakini Yesu anaweka masharti kwa aina ya upendo anaoukusudia, na sharti la kwanza ni kwamba lazima uwe kamili. Ukristo ni dini ya mtu mzima mzima. Unapaswa kumpenda Mungu kwa moyo wako wote, roho yako yote, na akili zako zote — kila uwezo ukielekezwa kwake. Hivi vitatu si vyumba vilivyotengana vya kutiwa alama kimoja kimoja bali ni pembe tatu za kuitazama nafsi moja isiyogawanyika, na kwa pamoja haviachi sehemu yoyote ya mtu ikiwa nje.This passage tells us that the very foundation of Christianity is the love of God. That is an easy thing to talk about — anyone can say "I love the Lord," and many do, inside the church and out. But Jesus attaches conditions to the kind of love He means, and the first is that it must be total. Christianity is a religion of the whole person. You are to love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind — every faculty bent toward Him. The three are not separate compartments to be ticked off but three angles on one undivided self, and together they leave no part of a person exempt.

Upendo huu kamili ndio msingi hasa wa utii. Unapompenda Mungu kwa kila kitu, unajitahidi kwa kila kitu kilicho ndani yako kufanya kile anachotaka; utii unaacha kuwa dai linalolazimishwa kutoka nje na unakuwa mwelekeo wa asili wa maisha. Kama vile mti unaoota ufuoni mwa bahari unavyopindwa kwa miaka mingi kuelekea upande wa upepo unaovuma mara kwa mara, ndivyo Mkristo mzima anavyokusudiwa kupindwa, kwa uthabiti na kwa kudumu, na mapenzi ya Mungu. Na kuna sharti la pili: huu ni upendo wa kiwango. Mungu ametupa vitu vingi vizuri vya kufurahia katika ulimwengu huu, navyo ni zawadi. Lakini lazima siku zote tuulinde mpangilio wa mapendo yetu, ili zawadi yoyote — hata iwe nzuri namna gani — isije ikawa muhimu kwetu kama Mtoaji. Ikiwa tunampenda Mungu kwa moyo wetu wote na roho yetu yote na akili zetu zote, basi hakuna kitu kinachoruhusiwa kuja kati yetu na Yeye.This total love is the very basis of obedience. When you love God with everything, you strive with everything within you to do what He wants; obedience stops being a demand imposed from outside and becomes the natural leaning of a life. Just as a tree that grows by the seashore is bent over the years in the direction of the prevailing wind, the whole of the Christian is meant to be bent, steadily and permanently, by the will of God. And there is a second condition: this is a love of degree. God has given us many good things to enjoy in this world, and they are gifts. But we must always guard the order of our loves, so that no gift — however good — ever becomes as important to us as the Giver. If we love God with all our heart and soul and mind, then nothing is allowed to come between us and Him.

3. Tumeitwa Kupenda, Si Kutumika Tu3. Called to Love, Not Merely to Serve

Sisi Wakristo wakati mwingine tunaona miti tukashindwa kuuona msitu. Tunashika wazo kwamba kile Mungu anachotaka kwetu hasa ni tujichoshe kwa kazi hadi kufa kwa ajili yake, na hivyo tunakuwa watu waliolemewa na hatia, tukifanya kazi hadi vidole vinauma na mwishowe tukawa na huzuni. Hata tunaliandika kwenye matangazo ya ibada na kulitundika juu ya milango yetu: "Tumeitwa kutumika." Lakini kauli mbiu hiyo, ikitangulizwa kwanza, si sahihi. Kwanza kabisa hatukuitwa kutumika; tumeitwa kupenda. Huduma ni nzuri mahali pake, lakini inakusudiwa kuchipuka kutoka kwa upendo, kamwe isichukue nafasi yake — na tunapogeuza mpangilio huo, dini inageuka kuwa wajibu usio na furaha.We as Christians sometimes miss the forest for the trees. We pick up the idea that all God really wants from us is to work ourselves to death for Him, and so we become guilt-ridden, working our fingers to the bone and ending up miserable. We even inscribe it on our bulletins and hang it over our doors: "Called to serve." But that motto, taken first, is wrong. We are not first called to serve at all; we are called to love. Service is good in its place, but it is meant to grow out of love, never to replace it — and when we reverse the order, religion turns into joyless duty.

Maandiko yanatupa kielelezo kimoja tulivu cha jambo hili. Kuhusu Henoko karibu hakuna kilichoandikwa isipokuwa jambo moja lililo muhimu kuliko yote: alienda pamoja na Mungu, na Mungu akamtwaa. Ni maelezo yaliyoje juu ya maisha — kwamba jumla yake ni urafiki na Mungu. Henoko alikuwa mmoja wa wachache waliotimiza kweli kusudi ambalo sisi sote tuliumbwa kwa ajili yake, kwa maana Mungu alituumba ili tuwe na ushirika naye. Swali la kutuchunguza ni rahisi: hadi sasa, je, maelezo ya maisha yangu yangesomeka, "Alienda pamoja na Mungu"?Scripture gives us one quiet model of this. Of Enoch almost nothing is recorded except the one thing that matters most: he walked with God, and God took him. What a commentary on a life — that the sum of it is friendship with God. Enoch was one of the few who actually fulfilled the purpose for which we were all made, for God created us for fellowship with Himself. The searching question for us is simple: to this point, would the commentary of my life read, "He walked with God"?

4. Amri Kuu Kuliko Zote na Dhambi Kuu Kuliko Zote4. The Greatest Commandment and the Greatest Sin

Je, umewahi kufikiri dhambi kuu kuliko zote ni ipi hasa? Sote tuna orodha yetu ya siri — uuaji karibu juu kabisa, kisha uzinzi, wizi, uongo, kufuru, dhambi ambazo uzito wake tunauhisi bila kufundishwa. Lakini hakuna hata moja ya hizi iliyo kubwa kuliko zote. Kama Peter Lord anavyoonyesha, dhambi kuu kuliko zote huenda ikafungamana na amri kuu kuliko zote, kwa maana kutenda dhambi kuu kuliko zote ni kuivunja tu amri kuu kuliko zote. Ikiwa kumpenda Mungu kwa kila kitu ndilo jambo la kwanza, basi kushindwa kumpenda ndiyo dhambi ya kwanza na kuu kuliko zote — na ndiyo hasa ile ambayo hatufikirii kamwe kuiweka kwenye orodha yetu.Have you ever thought about what the greatest sin actually is? We all keep a private list — murder near the top, then adultery, theft, lying, blasphemy, the sins whose weight we feel instinctively. But none of these is the biggest. As Peter Lord points out, the greatest sin is most likely tied to the greatest commandment, for to commit the greatest sin is simply to break the greatest commandment. If loving God with everything is first, then failing to love Him is the first and greatest sin — and it is precisely the one we never think to put on our list.

Hili linabadilisha mtazamo wa kila kitu Mungu anachotuomba. Kile ambacho Mungu amekipenda zaidi tangu mwanzo kabisa si kazi yetu — Yeye ana uweza wote na hahitaji msaada wetu — wala si pesa zetu, kwa kuwa tayari anamiliki kila kitu kilichopo. Anachojali ni ushirika wetu, upendo wetu. Tukimfanyia Mungu kazi bila kumpenda Mungu, shughuli yote inakuwa mapambano ya kuchosha badala ya furaha. Kipimo chake ni sala: ni vigumu kukaa hata dakika tano mbele za Baba isipokuwa kuna uhusiano halisi wa upendo chini yake. Tunasoma habari za watakatifu walioamka saa tisa za usiku kusali kwa saa nyingi, nasi tunajiuliza kama walisukumwa na hatia au kama walimpenda Mungu tu zaidi sana kuliko sisi. Shauku ya kweli ya moyo wa Mkristo ni kumpenda Mungu kwa maisha yote.This reframes everything God asks of us. What God has been most interested in from the very beginning is not our work — He has all power and needs no help from us — nor our money, since He already owns everything that exists. What He cares about is our fellowship, our love. If we work for God without loving God, the whole enterprise becomes a grinding struggle instead of a joy. The test of it is prayer: it is hard to stay even five minutes before the Father unless there is a real love relationship underneath. We read of saints who rose at three in the morning to pray for hours, and we have to wonder whether they were driven by guilt or whether they simply loved God far more than we do. The honest desire of a Christian heart is to love God with the whole of life.

5. Kumpenda Mungu Kuliko Familia5. Loving God More Than Family

Ikiwa upendo huo ni kamili, wakati mwingine utajaribiwa dhidi ya mapendo yetu mengine — na Yesu alitaja lililo gumu kuliko yote kwanza. "Apendaye baba au mama kuliko mimi, hanistahili," alisema, "na apendaye mwana au binti kuliko mimi, hanistahili" (Mathayo 10:37). Tunaheshimu kwa haki kujitoa kwa ajili ya familia; upendo ndani ya familia ni mojawapo ya zawadi nzuri za Mungu. Lakini kwa sababu hasa ni mzuri sana, unabeba hatari halisi: kwamba tukaja kupenda hata kitu chenye thamani kama familia yetu kuliko tunavyompenda Mungu. Wakati mwingine Mungu atatutaka tuamue ni upendo upi ulio wa kwanza.If that love is total, it will sometimes be tested against our other loves — and Jesus named the hardest one first. "Anyone who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me," He said, "and anyone who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matthew 10:37). We rightly honor devotion to family; love within a family is one of God's good gifts. But precisely because it is so good, it carries a real danger: that we come to love even something as worthy as our family more than we love God. Sometimes God will ask us to settle which love is first.

Ibrahimu alikabili jaribu hilo kwa namna yake kali kuliko zote Mungu alipomtaka amtoe sadaka Isaka, mwana aliyemngoja maisha yake yote. Alimpenda kijana huyo kuliko maisha yake mwenyewe — lakini alimpenda Mungu zaidi, na kwa moyo na nia alimtoa mwanawe kwa Bwana. Mungu hakukusudia kamwe kisu kishuke; alimzuia mkono Ibrahimu. Lengo halikuwa kamwe kifo cha Isaka bali kugundua mahali upendo wa kwanza wa Ibrahimu ulipokuwa. Jaribu hilo hilo hutujia sisi kwa namna tulivu zaidi: mafungamano ya kifamilia na shughuli za kifamilia zinaweza kimya kimya kuzuia maisha ya utii.Abraham faced that test in its sharpest form when God asked him to offer Isaac, the son he had waited a lifetime for. He loved the boy more than his own life — yet he loved God more, and in heart and intent he gave his son to the Lord. God never meant for the knife to fall; He stayed Abraham's hand. The point was never the death of Isaac but the discovery of where Abraham's first love lay. The same test comes to us in quieter forms: family attachments and family concerns can quietly hold back a life of obedience.

6. Kumpenda Mungu Kuliko Pesa6. Loving God More Than Money

Upendo wa pili unaoshindana ambao Yesu aliutaja ni pesa. "Hamwezi kumtumikia Mungu na mali," alisema, na mojawapo ya maneno yake magumu kuliko yote yalisemwa kwa kijana tajiri mtawala aliyehisi kuna kitu kinachokosekana na akauliza jinsi ya kuurithi uzima wa milele. Yesu aliona kwamba mtu huyo aliupenda utajiri wake kuliko alivyompenda Mungu — kwamba pesa zilikuwa kimya kimya zimekuwa mungu wake, zikidai muda wake, mawazo yake, na nguvu zake — na hivyo akaweka kidole chake hapo hapo: uza ulivyo navyo, uwape maskini, nawe utakuwa na hazina mbinguni. Lilikuwa jambo moja ambalo kijana huyo hakuweza kulifanya, akaenda zake kwa huzuni.The second rival love Jesus named is money. "You cannot serve God and money," He said, and one of His hardest words was spoken to a rich young ruler who sensed something was missing and asked how to inherit eternal life. Jesus saw that the man loved his wealth more than he loved God — that money had quietly become his god, claiming his time, thought, and energy — and so He put His finger exactly there: sell what you have, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. It was the one thing the young man could not do, and he went away sorrowful.

Swali ambalo habari hiyo inatusukumia ni la umiliki: ni nani kweli anayemiliki vile tunavyovishika? Ikiwa ni vyangu, nitavitumia kwa namna moja; ikiwa ni vya Mungu, nitavitumia kwa namna nyingine. Maandiko yanajibu waziwazi — dunia, ng'ombe, hata ndege ni mali ya Mungu, naye anamiliki vyote tulivyo navyo. Yeye ni mkarimu kwa kuturuhusu kutumia mali yake na hadai tumrudishie vyote, lakini anasema kwamba zaka ni ya Bwana. Kuizuia si kubana matumizi; ni kumwibia Mungu. Tunatoa zaka na sadaka zetu kwa sababu fulani: ili Kristo ajulikane, ili watu waokolewe na kufundishwa hapa, na ili wengine watumwe kuuambia ulimwengu habari za Mwokozi. Ni fursa tukufu kuwa na sehemu katika kazi hiyo, na jinsi tunavyozishika pesa zetu kimya kimya hufunua kama tunaipenda zawadi au Mtoaji.The question that story presses on us is one of ownership: who really owns what we hold? If it is mine, I will use it one way; if it is God's, I will use it another. Scripture answers plainly — the earth, the cattle, even the birds belong to God, and He owns all that we have. He is generous in letting us use His possessions and does not demand them all back, but He does say that the tithe is the Lord's. To withhold it is not thrift; it is to rob God. We give our tithes and offerings for a reason: so that Christ may be known, so that people are saved and taught here, and so that others can be sent out to tell the world of the Savior. It is a glorious privilege to have a part in that work, and how we hold our money quietly reveals whether we love the gift or the Giver.

7. Kumtazama Yeye Kuliko Maisha7. Looking to Him More Than to Life

Kumpenda Mungu kuliko familia na pesa hatimaye kunarudi kwenye kuyaweka macho yetu kwake kuliko kila kitu, pamoja na maisha yetu wenyewe na tamaa zetu. Waebrania 12:2 inayaweka maisha yote ya Kikristo katika maneno machache: "tumtazame Yesu, mwenye kuanzisha imani yetu na kuitimiza." Agizo hilo ni rahisi lakini kwa namna fulani ndilo jambo gumu kuliko yote kuendelea kulifanya. Wengi wetu tulimwamini Kristo mapema tukakusudia kuyaweka macho yetu kwake maisha yote, lakini mahali fulani tuligeuza macho. Ni kama mchezo wa watoto wa kukodoleana macho hadi mmoja apepese; katika maisha yetu ya kiroho tunapepesa, tunampoteza Bwana machoni, na kutazama mahali pengine — kwa kawaida kuelekea mng'ao, mamlaka, na tamaa ambazo ulimwengu unazitoa.To love God above family and money finally comes down to keeping our eyes on Him above everything, including our own life and desires. Hebrews 12:2 puts the whole Christian life in three words: "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." The instruction is simple and somehow the hardest thing to keep doing. Many of us came to trust Christ early and meant to keep our eyes on Him for life, yet somewhere we looked away. It is like the children's game of staring until someone blinks; in our spiritual lives we blink, lose sight of the Lord, and look somewhere else — usually toward the glitter, power, and desires the world holds out.

Daudi ndiye kielelezo kikuu cha mtu aliyepepesa macho. Alipokuwa kijana mchungaji, imani yake ilikuwa na nguvu sana kiasi kwamba, akiwa na kombeo na tumaini lake kwa Mungu, alimwangusha jitu ambalo jeshi lote liliogopa. Mungu akamfanya mfalme, na hakuna kitu duniani kilichoweza kusimama dhidi ya mtu wa namna hiyo. Lakini kisha Daudi akageuza macho — akishughulishwa na kutawala, na mamlaka, na kila mtu akimwambia jinsi alivyo mkuu — na jioni moja macho yake yakaelekea kwa mke wa jirani yake, akaanguka. Kama macho yake yangebaki kwa Bwana, angeweza kuliepuka jaribu hilo kabisa. Nasi tunaweza vivyo hivyo. Mapambano ya maisha ya Kikristo kwa kiasi kikubwa ni mapambano ya mahali tunapotazama, na vitu vya kila siku tunavyovipita bila kuvijali vinaweza kuwa ndipo hasa Mungu anapongoja aonekane.David is the great example of a man who blinked. As a shepherd boy his faith was so strong that, armed with a sling and his trust in God, he brought down a giant the whole army feared. God made him king, and nothing on earth could stand against such a man. But then David looked away — caught up in ruling, in power, in everyone telling him how great he was — and one evening his gaze drifted to his neighbor's wife, and he fell. Had his eyes stayed on the Lord, he could have escaped the temptation altogether. So can we. The struggle of the Christian life is largely a struggle of where we are looking, and the everyday things we walk right past can be exactly where God is waiting to be seen.

8. Si Mapema Mno Wala Si Kuchelewa Mno Kutazama8. Never Too Early and Never Too Late to Look

Ikiwa jambo lote ni kujifunza kumtazama Yesu, basi faraja mbili zinafuata. Kwanza, si mapema mno kuanza. Wengi wa watu wakuu wa Mungu, wanaume na wanawake, waliyakaza macho yao kwa Kristo walipokuwa vijana, na mtazamo mmoja thabiti kwake unaweza kuweka mwelekeo wa maisha yote. Mhubiri mlei katika kanisa dogo la Uingereza lililozingirwa na theluji, ambaye aliweza tu kurudia mstari mmoja — "Niangalieni mimi, mkaokolewe" — na akamsisitizia kijana mwenye huzuni wa miaka kumi na mitano, alitumiwa siku hiyo kumgeuza kijana yule aliyekuja kuwa Charles Spurgeon kuwa Mkristo. Moyo mchanga unaojifunza kumtazama Yesu umepewa mwanzo bora kuliko yote.If the whole of it is learning to look to Jesus, then two encouragements follow. First, it is never too early to begin. Many of the great men and women of God fixed their eyes on Christ when they were young, and a single steady look at Him can set the whole course of a life. The lay preacher in a snowbound English chapel who could only repeat one verse — "Look unto Me, and be saved" — and pressed it on a miserable fifteen-year-old, was used that day to turn the boy who became Charles Spurgeon into a Christian. A young heart that learns to look to Jesus has been given the best of all beginnings.

Pili, si kuchelewa mno. Wamekuwepo watu wenye dhambi kubwa nyuma yao na mvi vichwani mwao ambao hatimaye walimtazama Yesu peke yake wakapokelewa, kwa maana nafasi iko wazi bila kujali mtu ameishi namna gani. B. H. Carroll, asiyemcha Mungu na mwenye uchungu na aliyelemazwa na vita, alikokotwa kanisani bila kupenda na mama yake; mahubiri yalimwacha mtupu, lakini mwishoni mwake nuru kutoka mbinguni ilionekana kupambazuka, Kristo akasimama mbele yake akiita, naye akatazama juu mara moja na kwa milele akawa mtu mkuu wa Mungu. Iwe tunakuja mapema au kwa kuchelewa, amri ni ile ile na mlango ni ule ule: mpende Mungu kwa moyo wako wote, na uendelee kumtazama hadi, kama wimbo wa zamani unavyosema, mambo ya dunia yafifie ajabu katika nuru ya utukufu wake na neema yake. Kumpenda Mungu ndiyo amri ya kwanza na iliyo kuu kuliko zote — nayo huanza, na hudumishwa, kwa kumtazama Yeye.Second, it is never too late. There have been people with great sin behind them and grey hair on their heads who at last looked to Jesus alone and were received, for the opportunity stands open regardless of how a person has lived. B. H. Carroll, godless and embittered and crippled by war, was dragged unwillingly to church by his mother; the sermon left him empty, but at its end a light from heaven seemed to break, Christ stood before him calling, and he looked up once and forever and became a great man of God. Whether we come early or late, the command is the same and the door is the same: love God with all your heart, and keep looking to Him until, as the old hymn says, the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Loving God is the first and greatest commandment — and it begins, and is kept, by looking to Him.

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