To Encourage You

Hebrews 13:2 “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

There are many surprises in store for all of us, for there is so much more to life than meets the eye.  Isn’t that the message of the verse above? 

In the first verse of Hebrews 13, Christians are encouraged to show brotherly love to other brothers and sisters in Christ. Such love should come naturally to those who are supernaturally related to one another in the family of God.  God has placed such love in our hearts with the new birth (Romans 5:5), but that love can grow cold if we give ourselves to selfish and sinful pursuits (Matthew 24:12).  But then Hebrews 13 turns to our attitudes and actions towards those whom we don’t know, to “strangers.”  That phrase “hospitality to strangers” is just one word in the Greek language in which it was written. It means “love to strangers.”  We are not to neglect such people. As God gives us opportunity to love them in practical ways, we are to do just that. It’s the picture that Jesus gives us in the story of the good Samaritan.  We are told that when the Samaritan saw a person who had been robbed and beaten by thieves, he “came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back’” (Luke 10:33-35).  This parable points to the fact that God is watching and takes notice of the love we show to strangers, not that that’s the first thing on our mind or that we’re even aware of at the moment. 

We are told in the verse above that some who have practiced hospitality in the past were actually showing love to angels, although that thought never entered their mind. They were unaware of the full significance of what they were doing.  Immediately, my mind goes to Abraham and Sarah in the account recorded in Genesis 18 as three strangers came to them. It was as they fed these “men” that it was revealed to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son and were warned of the calamity that was about to come upon Sodom and Gomorrah.  All the while, they were interacting with and showing hospitality to angels.

But beyond the idea that some have entertained angels unawares, Jesus told us that many would find out at the final judgment that they had actually loved Him unawares.  Listen to these words from Matthew 25:34-40: “’Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”

There is more that Christians are unaware of, much more.  How aware are we, really, of the effects of our prayers, yet our God has promised us that ,“the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16 KJV)?   And then there is our giving. How much do we really know about its full impacts, yet Jesus has promised us that as we give to glorify Him, we are, in reality, storing up “treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20)?  It’s that way for so much of our Christian experience. While we may sometimes see some of the results as we simply and humbly obey the things God has called us to, we are wonderfully unaware of much. But, one day soon it will all be made clear to us. “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Isn’t that such a wonderful truth? Isn’t it a glorious thought that if we will but walk by faith and not by sight, one day that unawareness will all be made visible? 

You see, our God has told us that, “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). The natural man, those without the Spirit of Christ, will never know such things. However, for the believer, many of the things that are unknown to the natural man “God has (already) revealed to us through the Spirit.” Yet, there is much that remains a mystery, a mystery that will be gloriously unveiled to us in eternity. 

So, is that what you’re living for? Have you “set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2)?  Are you living for the day “when Christ who is your life appears, (and) you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4)?  May God help us to live a life of obedience, even when we don’t understand right now what our God is doing as a result of it all. We can be sure that, although there is much of which we are unaware, it will all be revealed to us, wonderfully, in glory.