如果表现好客意味着我们总是要举办优雅的聚会，给客人留下深刻印象，那么我们大多数人都不会为此劳神。
圣经中对于“操练好客”的教导要简单得多。尽管它也包括做做计划、打打电话向人表示热情欢迎，但它更侧重于培养关系、分享神向我们显出的爱。
给罗马人写信的保罗，认为好客是日常操练，并视之为属灵生命成长的关键。
好客不仅仅是举办盛大的聚会和表演，而是邀请人们进入我们的生命，分享我们所拥有的--我们既是给予者，也是接受者。
有一天，我妻子在烘培时发现还缺一个鸡蛋。这时她恰巧看到一个新邻居，就问她能否借个鸡蛋。而正因为她这么小的一个需要，一段新的关系就建立起来了。对他人的依赖不仅让她得到了烘培所需的鸡蛋，也让她获得了一段新的友谊。
做邻舍的意思是，既要友好，又要敞开。爱是关心他人，并认识到当我们做出决定，我们的行为会对别人产生什么影响。爱呼召我们不仅仅去祝福他人，也要被他人祝福。
神啊，祢对我们如此慷慨。求祢教导我们慷慨地与身边的人分享，也透过接受他们的慷慨去祝福他们。奉耶稣的名祷告，阿们。
罗马书 12:9-21
9 爱人不可虚假；恶要厌恶，善要亲近。
10 爱弟兄，要彼此亲热；恭敬人，要彼此推让。
11 殷勤不可懒惰；要心里火热，常常服侍主。
12 在指望中要喜乐，在患难中要忍耐，祷告要恒切。
13 圣徒缺乏要帮补，客要一味地款待。
14 逼迫你们的，要给他们祝福；只要祝福，不可咒诅。
15 与喜乐的人要同乐，与哀哭的人要同哭。
16 要彼此同心；不要志气高大，倒要俯就卑微的人；不要自以为聪明。
17 不要以恶报恶。众人以为美的事，要留心去做。
18 若是能行，总要尽力与众人和睦。
19 亲爱的弟兄，不要自己申冤，宁可让步，听凭主怒；因为经上记着：“主说：申冤在我，我必报应。”
20 所以，“你的仇敌若饿了，就给他吃；若渴了，就给他喝。因为你这样行，就是把炭火堆在他的头上。”
21 你不可为恶所胜，反要以善胜恶。
Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. — Romans 12:13
If showing hospitality meant we always had to throw elegant parties and impress our guests, most of us would not bother with it.
The Bible’s instruction to “practice hospitality” is much simpler. Though it includes some planning and calls for showing people a warm welcome, hospitality is more about cultivating relationships and sharing the love that God has shown us.
Paul, who wrote to the Romans, considered hospitality an everyday practice and described it as vital to spiritual growth. More than throwing grand parties and putting on a performance, hospitality is about inviting people into our lives and sharing from what we have—both as giver and recipient.
One day, my wife found that she needed one more egg for a recipe she was making. Catching the eye of a new neighbor, she asked if she could borrow an egg. Out of her need for something so minor, a new relationship formed. Being dependent on another allowed her to receive not just the egg for her recipe but also a new friendship.
To be a neighbor is to be both neighborly and open to neighborliness. Love looks out for others and recognizes the effect our actions will have on others when we make decisions. It calls us to attend not just to blessing others but to being blessed by them as well.
God, you have been generous to us. Teach us to share generously with the people around us, and to bless them by accepting their generosity as well. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.
诵读: 楚云
片头: 张妙阳
