阅读经文 

某天晚上，在我们的查经小组结束时，我突然领悟到，我有幸能够在这房间里的每一个人的生命和心灵中看到耶稣。我们这个小组的成员都是非常平凡的人：包括脾气古怪的退休教师、需要挣扎以维持生计的画家、颓丧的青年、还有其他人，加上我太太和我自己，而我们也正在寻找如何适应领养了三个小孩的生活。是真的吗？这真的是耶稣的居所吗？

我领悟到，尽管我们分享的是平凡甚至是软弱的生活，然而耶稣就在我们当中发出光辉。脾气古怪的教师可能没有耐性和好挑剔人，但在她易怒的外表之下，却是一颗善良的心，她为几个有需要的学生缴交基督教研究院的学费；画家虽不善词令，但她的画笔却精于传神达意；小时曾被虐待的青年，在此找到一个安全的地方，让他可以公开地为他的创伤哀哭。

信徒靠着基督同被建造、成为神居住的所在。这个事实正是在基督里的生命的伟大奥秘之一。当祂的儿女奉祂的名聚集一起时，这位随手创造无数星宿的宇宙主宰便与他们同在！当我们的生命被弄得一团糟时，耶稣就站在我们身旁。祂曾对使徒保罗这样说：“我的恩典够你用的，因为我的能力是在人的软弱上显得完全”。（参林后 12:9）当神在我们中间居住时，这样的能力就能显明出来了。

As we wrapped up a small-group Bible study one night, I suddenly realized I had been privileged to see Jesus in the lives and hearts of each person in the room. Our little group was beautifully ordinary: a cranky retired schoolteacher, a struggling artist, a discouraged young man, others, and my wife and I, who were navigating our way with three young adopted children. Really? This is where Jesus lives?

I realized that it was in the ordinariness and even the weaknesses of our shared lives that the presence of Jesus shone through. The cranky schoolteacher could be impatient and critical, but beneath her crustiness shone a heart of gold that quietly paid for several needy students to study at a Christian graduate school. The artist stumbled with her words but spoke eloquently with her paintbrush. The young man, who had been abused as a child, had found a safe place to weep openly about his wounds.

The fact that believers in Christ are being built together into a dwelling in which God lives is one of the great mysteries of life in Christ. The Lord of the universe, who flung countless galaxies into being, is present as his children gather in his name! Jesus stands with us in the messiness of our lives. He once said to the apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). That’s the kind of power that shows up when God makes his dwelling among us.