Hebrews 13:1-6 Click on link to read passage. You may select your own version of the Bible after the link opens.
Verses 1-3 remind us to look to the needs of others including strangers, people in prison, and people who are being mistreated. I am often intregued by verse 2 where it says to entertain strangers because in so doing we might be entertaining angels. I wonder how many times people have entertained angels without knowing it.
Verse 3 instructs us to remember those in prison as if we were in prison with them. I’ve heard people speak of this verse who add that there are many kinds of prisons – depression, despair, and abusive relationships are a few examples. These are good examples, but I wonder if they are sometimes used to ease our consciences for not doing anything for the prisoners in the more traditional sense of the word. We mustn’t neglect either.
The next time you or I are inconvenienced by a stranger or someone who doesn’t exactly measure up to our standards of who we would choose for a close friend, remember these verses and consider that this inconvenience just might be an appointment that was created especially for you by God in heaven.
Then on a more introspective level verses 4 and 5 command us to maintain sexual purity, reserving ourselves for our marriage partners alone. We are also instructed to free ourselves from the love of money and to be content with what we have, for God has promised never to leave us or to forsake us. We should never fear what man can do to us when we have the Almighty God as our helper.
Lord, work in our hearts freeing them to love as you love, and to serve others as you served. Help us to recognize those divinely appointed situations that come into our lives, and help us to be sensitive to their needs. Help us be your light to the world.
Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green
No comments yet.