our daily bread
Dexu Xia
A “New Man”
Continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. Colossians 1:23
As a group of teenagers visited a home for the elderly in Montego Bay, Jamaica, one young woman noticed a lonely looking man at the end of the room. He appeared to have little left in this world but a bed to sleep on—a bed from which he could not move because of his disability.
The teen began right away to share the story of God’s love for us and read some Bible passages to him. “As I shared with him,” she would say later, “I started to feel his eagerness to hear more.” Responding to his interest, she explained the wonder of Jesus’s sacrificial death for us. “It was hard for this man, who had no hope and no family,” she recalled, “to understand that Someone he’s never met would love him enough to die on the cross for his sins.”
She told him more about Jesus—and then about the promise of heaven (including a new body) for all who believe. He asked her, “Will you dance with me up there?” She saw him begin to imagine himself free of his worn-out body and crippling limitations.
When he said he wanted to trust Jesus as his Savior, she helped him pray a prayer of forgiveness and faith. When she asked him if she could get a picture with him, he replied, “If you help me sit up. I’m a new man.”
Praise God for the life-changing, hope-giving, available-to-all gospel of Jesus Christ! It offers new life for all who trust Him (Col. 1:5, 23).
Lord, thank You for the new life we have in Jesus Christ. Help us to share the hope of that new life with others so they can be made new as well.
Jesus offers new life.
新人
只要你们在所信的道上恒心，根基稳固，坚定不移，不至被引动失去福音的盼望。-歌罗西书1章23节
一群青少年到牙买加的蒙特哥湾一间养老院探访，其中一位成员丽莎注意到房间尽头有位孤独的老人。他因身有残疾，只能躺在床上，而除了那张床之外，他似乎一无所有。
丽莎上前与这位老人分享上帝的爱，并读圣经给他听。后来丽莎告诉我们：“当我和他分享福音信息时，我感受到他对福音的渴慕。”所以丽莎进一步向老人解释，耶稣为我们牺牲受死。但丽莎表示：“对这个没盼望也没家庭的老人来说，很难理解这样的爱，怎么会有陌生人愿意爱他，并为他的罪死在十字架上。”后来丽莎告诉他更多耶稣的信息，以及相信耶稣的人都可以进入天国（还有一个新的身体）。老人问她：“那妳会和我在天国里一起跳舞吗？”他已经开始想像，自己脱离残破身躯和瘫痪的景象了。当老人愿意接受耶稣成为救主时，丽莎带领他祈求主的宽恕，并求主给他信心。当老人受邀拍照时，他对丽莎说：“妳扶我坐好，我是一个新人了。”
赞美上帝，因耶稣基督带来的福音，能改变生命、给人盼望，且人人可得！这让所有信靠祂的人，都能得到新的生命（歌罗西书1章5、23节）。
感谢主让我们在耶稣基督里有新的生命。
帮助我们能与人分享这盼望，让他们经历更新与改变。
耶稣赐给我们新生命。