我坐在摯友嫚妮的病床邊，周圍還有其他臥床的病人，忙碌的醫護人員和來來往往的訪客。旁邊有一位年輕女子坐在她生病的母親身邊，她好奇地詢問嫚妮：「那些不斷前來探望妳的人是誰啊？」嫚妮回答說：「他們是我教會裡的弟兄姐妹！」那位年輕女子說，她從未見過這樣的情景，因為她覺得訪客們都流露出真實的愛。嫚妮微笑著回答說：「這全是因為我們有上帝的愛，這愛是藉著祂的兒子耶穌基督賜給我們的！」

嫚妮的回應與使徒約翰的教導相呼應。約翰在晚年寫了三封充滿愛的書信，在第一封信中，他寫道：「上帝就是愛！住在愛裡面的，就是住在上帝裡面，上帝也住在他裡面」（約翰一書4章16節）。也就是說，人若承認耶穌是上帝的兒子（15節），上帝就會藉著「祂的靈」住在他們裡面（13節）。我們怎麼會關愛別人呢？約翰告訴我們：「我們愛，因為上帝先愛我們。」（19節）

對我或對教會其他人來說，因著上帝所賜的愛，去探訪嫚妮並不是一件麻煩事。從她的身上，以及從她為救主所做的見證中，我所獲得的比付出的還多。今天，上帝會如何透過你去關愛別人呢？

As I sat next to my friend Margaret, who was lying in her hospital bed, I took in the bustle and activity of the other patients, medical staff, and visitors. A young woman sitting nearby with her ailing mother asked Margaret, “Who are all the people who keep visiting you?” She responded, “They’re members of my church family!” The young woman remarked that she’d never seen anything like it; she felt as if the many visitors were “like tangible love poured out.” Margaret replied, smiling, “It all comes down to our love of God through His Son Jesus Christ!”

In her response, Margaret echoed the disciple John, who in his final years wrote three letters brimming with love. In his first letter, he said, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16). That is, those who acknowledge “that Jesus is the Son of God” (v. 15) have God living in them through “his Spirit” (v. 13). How can we lovingly care for others? “We love because he first loved us” (v. 19).

Because of the gift of God’s love, visiting Margaret hadn’t felt like a hardship to me or others in our church. I received more than I gave, not only from Margaret, but through observing her gentle witness about her Savior, Jesus. How might God love others through you today?