Hebrews 13:1-3

Hebrews 13:1-3 Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

Keep on serving, keep on loving, until the Lord returns. This is God's will for us who are in Christ. We are to love readily and unreservedly. As members of Christ's body, we should embrace our brothers and sisters with an everlasting love. We should always remember our children who are raised up in the name of the Lord are his children. Our friends, our acquaintances IN CHRIST are his also. When we eventually enter into the very throne room of God, the eyes of the believers who have gone before us will be upon us. Our shared DNA will not matter, our earthly relationships will not define us: only the fact that we are ALL GOD'S CHILDREN WILL MATTER. Given this reality, how should we treat God's valuable and beloved family, his heavenly DNA? God asks us to love his own, treating them with reverence and respect. We are to be gentle and kind to each other. If we treat people as we want to be treated, we will meet their needs, visit them in prison, and help them when they are mistreated. God does not tell us to judge our brothers and sisters; He tells us to love them as we love ourselves. The author of Hebrews exhorts us to keep on loving each other as brothers (sisters) for we are all God's precious little ones.

Some of us have decided Christ plus the things of the world equals happiness. But the biblical formula is Christ plus serving others equals happiness. James tells us to show our faith by our works because faith without works is dead. Faith in Christ without the concomitant works of righteousness has no life because it does not produce fruit or positive results. The Bible says, even the devil believes, but he does not perform holy deeds. Satan does not serve, he controls. He does not do good, he does evil. Jesus said the world would know we are his followers by our love. Therefore, as members of the body of Christ, our interactions should reveal God's nature, not anger, bitterness, and resentment. If we have anything against someone in the church, we should go to that person and make it right before we partake of the sacraments. We are one IN CHRIST, one in the Spirit; our actions should support the body. Christians must also recognize that God knows our thoughts and our attitudes. He knows our innermost being and does not tolerate aberrant thinking or negative behavior towards his creation. God loves everyone, including children, and demands we treat them well and cause them no harm. Jesus said, if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. (Mark 9:42)

In your lifetime, you may never entertain angels unaware, but for sure you will entertain strangers and the children of God, people who need his touch through you. Responsibility to hear and to obey God is a part of our calling as believers. In our homes, our workplaces, and our daily lives, we should seek ways to bless people and to show them God's love and his salvation plan. We should always be ready to show God's kindness, generosity, and patience. As God reaps a harvest of the Spirit in our lives, we display him to a hurt and dying world. If we fail to reflect the attributes of the Spirit, we will display our flesh to the world. God's Spirit produces a harvest of righteousness; the flesh produces destruction and suffering. Therefore, let us walk in faith, abandoning whatever hinders us from running a holy race to the finish line. Let us not make excuses for our bad moods or our unkind acts but throw off fleshly desires, materialism, and worldly ties that bind us to carnal thinking and actions. If we willingly and wholeheartedly love and serve God, we will walk in joy and peace, and others will want what we have.