阅读经文 

希腊人有一个意为“鼓励”的词，与我们对共情的理解非常相似。它的意思来源于这样的观念：在一个人所经历的故事中与他同在。这就是当保罗说“勉励灰心的人”时用的词。灰心的人指的是那些已经丧失了部分盼望的人。

在我们今天的经文中，保罗敦促我们为我们遇到的每个人做好准备。一些人发现这比较容易，另一些人则不然。那些灰心的人可能有点难以相处。别人的情绪往往会影响我们，所以我们可能更喜欢和那些快乐、热情的人在一起。但保罗指出，要真正有基督的样式，也要花时间和那些纠结挣扎的人在一起。

有趣的是，保罗接着还告诉我们“要常常喜乐。”（帖前 5:16）进入一个令人灰心的故事不应该使我们变得沮丧。它或许使我们感到悲伤或愤怒，但它不应该使我们失去盼望。

当我们有了盼望，尽管我们面对灰心的朋友可能会感到悲伤或愤怒，但我们仍有喜乐，因为我们知道这个世界上令人沮丧的事情并不是终局。我们可以将这种盼望和喜乐带入对方的故事里，这会让他们知道自己并不孤单。藉着这样简单的行动，我们可以帮助他们，改变他们的故事，成为其中的一部分。

The Greeks had a word for “encouragement” that was quite similar to our understanding of empathy. It came from the idea of being with someone in their story. That’s the word Paul uses here for helping the disheartened. Disheartened people are basically those who have lost some of their hope.

In our reading for today, Paul urges us to be our best selves for everyone we encounter. Some people find that easier to do than others do. People who are disheartened can be a bit difficult to spend time with. The emotions of others tend to affect us, so we might prefer to be with people who have happiness and excitement to share. But Paul points out that to be truly Christlike, we also need to give our time to those who are struggling.

It’s interesting that Paul also goes on to tell us to “rejoice always” (v. 16). Entering into a disheartening story should not dishearten us. It might make us sad or angry, but it shouldn’t cause us to lose hope.

With hope we retain joy despite the sadness or anger we may feel with a disheartened friend, because we know that the disheartening things of this world do not have the final say. And we can bring that hope and joy into the other person’s story, doing so in a way that shows they are not alone. With that simple action, we can help to change their story by being a part of it.