Daily Bread 2010 - Hebrews 13
Hebrews 13
Concluding Exhortations
1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
The final chapter of Hebrews, chapter 13, is a random assortment of teaching for the church on a variety of topics. These first three verses talk about the kind of love we should have for each other in the community of faith. The writer compares the love we have for each other to that of brothers of sisters, using the language of family.
And this is what the church is, “the family of God”. Since God is our heavenly Father, and Jesus is our brother; we become part of God’s heavenly family by faith. As it says in John 3:3, we are “born again”, better translated “born of God, or born from above”. Since God created us in His image, there is a part of us that is incomplete until we come into a relationship with God by faith. As Saint Augustine said, “Our souls are restless until they rest in thee.”
This is the same reason that the church should show hospitality and love to strangers. Since everyone is made in God’s image, everyone has intrinsic value and matters to God. Lost people matter to God, as much as found people. Because lost people matter to God they should matter to us. Whether they are strangers, in prison, or homeless, as we reach out to them it as if we entertaining angels. As Matthew 25 says, “What you do unto the least of these you do unto me.”
How has one of the angels of God shown up in your life recently? Did you show hospitality to them? Take a minute and pray for the homeless, those in prison and those are strangers of God.
Jesus we thank you that by your grace you have opened heaven’s door to us. We thank you that you have reconciled us to our heavenly Father, the one who created us. Help us to become grow into the family likeness by imitating the Son in the power of the Spirit. May we reach out to strangers with the same love you had for us when we were estranged from you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Concluding Exhortations
1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
The final chapter of Hebrews, chapter 13, is a random assortment of teaching for the church on a variety of topics. These first three verses talk about the kind of love we should have for each other in the community of faith. The writer compares the love we have for each other to that of brothers of sisters, using the language of family.
And this is what the church is, “the family of God”. Since God is our heavenly Father, and Jesus is our brother; we become part of God’s heavenly family by faith. As it says in John 3:3, we are “born again”, better translated “born of God, or born from above”. Since God created us in His image, there is a part of us that is incomplete until we come into a relationship with God by faith. As Saint Augustine said, “Our souls are restless until they rest in thee.”
This is the same reason that the church should show hospitality and love to strangers. Since everyone is made in God’s image, everyone has intrinsic value and matters to God. Lost people matter to God, as much as found people. Because lost people matter to God they should matter to us. Whether they are strangers, in prison, or homeless, as we reach out to them it as if we entertaining angels. As Matthew 25 says, “What you do unto the least of these you do unto me.”
How has one of the angels of God shown up in your life recently? Did you show hospitality to them? Take a minute and pray for the homeless, those in prison and those are strangers of God.
Jesus we thank you that by your grace you have opened heaven’s door to us. We thank you that you have reconciled us to our heavenly Father, the one who created us. Help us to become grow into the family likeness by imitating the Son in the power of the Spirit. May we reach out to strangers with the same love you had for us when we were estranged from you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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