阅读经文 

我们的教会有一位个子小但却有很大影响力的女士——她温柔、慷慨、好客、仁慈，任何曾经遇见她的人，都经历到她爱心的款待。我的一位朋友，在主日与我们一起礼拜时遇见她，这位朋友的观察十分恰当：“那位女士——她是一个无价之宝。你们应该把她复制了。”

我们所有人都热爱那位可爱的女士，因为她也爱我们——是如此谦虚、慷慨、乐意和非常友善的爱心。

邻近的小孩也因她的爱心受惠，她送食物给有需要的家庭，烘烤小点心来款待参与小组聚会的人，她更为我们诚恳祷告。

尽管老年痴呆症大大损害了她的健康，当她要我为她祷告时，她也同时牵着我的手为我祷告。此时她说话已不大流利，但她的祷告却是令人感动和充满爱心的。

这种爱心和好客的心是从哪里来的呢？她能切实地爱，是因为她被神所爱。她认识神那深切、广阔和永不止息的爱，她在她那位信实的救主身上，经历到祂牺牲爱子、赦免罪恶、背负十架、战胜死亡的厚爱。她对我们的爱就是从那种大爱里面涌流出来的。

我们无法复制她，但我们可以在她身上学习功课，我们可以效法她——靠着神的恩典，我们也可以成为耶稣的手、脚、声音和心——以主深厚切实的爱去爱他人。

In our church there was a small woman who had a big presence—gentle, generous, hos­pitable, loving. Anyone who met her experienced her loving hospitality. A friend of mine met her while visiting for worship with us one Sunday, and the friend aptly observed, "That woman—she's a jewel. You ought to clone her."

We all loved that dear woman. And that was because she loved us—so unassumingly, so generously, so gladly, and so very well.

That love reached neighborhood children, brought meals to families at just the right time, sweetened committee meetings with delicious baked goods. She prayed for us too.

Even when dementia had taken a lot from her and she wanted me to pray for her, she would also take my hand and pray for me. At that point her sentences didn't flow smoothly, but her prayers were moving, loving.

Where does such love and hos­pitality come from? She loved well because she was loved. She knew the deep and wide and never-ending love of God. She experienced his Son-sacrificing, sin-forgiving, cross-bearing, death-defeating love in her faithful Savior. And out of that love she loved us!

We can't clone her, but we can learn from her. We can follow her example—and by God's grace we can also be the hands and feet and voice and heart of Jesus—loving others with the deep, deep love of the Lord.