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你是否曾经去看演出或电影，笑得脸颊都疼了? 我有过这样的经历。我生命中就有这么一个人，他总能让我开怀大笑。不管出于什么原因，只要有他在身边，就有欢笑，甚至是喜乐。

耶稣的早期信徒开始不断涌现时，有一件事引起了别人的注意：在门徒中间洋溢着喜乐。他们的生命以耶稣为印记，这从他们深切的委身和极大的喜乐中能明显地观察到。使徒行传清楚地记载，他们每天聚会，定期礼拜，并且有喜乐和慷慨的心。跟从耶稣的人有这种内在的喜乐，这喜乐不是为他们自己。他们的慷慨大度给邻里的生活带来了欢乐。

也许当耶稣教导他们关于神国的事时，祂曾告诉他们，拥有大喜乐是多么令人兴奋和稀奇的事，以至于人们会好奇并想要获得他们所拥有的。路加记载，他们越发得众人的喜爱，主又加增他们的人数。

请问问你自己，这种喜乐对你来说是真实的吗？有时候生活会很艰难，我们会感到灰心。但这也可以帮助我们深入省察自己，当我们在盼望中前进，满心欢喜又慷慨乐捐时，喜乐就会加增。

Have you ever gone to a show or a movie and laughed so hard that your face hurt? That has happened to me. There’s this one guy in my life who can make me laugh really hard too. For whatever reason, when he’s around, there’s often great laughter and even joy.

As Jesus’ early followers began to emerge, something was happening that caught the attention of others: joy rose up from among them.

Their lives were marked by Jesus, clearly seen in their deep devotion and great joy. Acts makes clear that they met daily, worshiped regularly, and had glad and generous hearts. Jesus’ followers had this internal joy marked with gladness, and it was not for themselves. Their outward-facing generosity brought joy into the lives of the people around them.

Maybe when Jesus had taught them about the kingdom of God, he had shared how exciting and strange it would be to have so much joy that people would wonder and want what they had. Luke reports that they grew in favor with all the people and that the Lord added many to their numbers.
Ask yourself if this joy is real for you. There are times when life can be hard and we can get discouraged. But it can also help to look deeper and see that joy grows when we are glad and generous as we look forward in hope.