Entertaining Angels

 DEVOTION

TO HEBREWS

ENTERTAINING ANGELS

Heb 13:1-3

13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

NIV

One, that is the number we are supposed to be. That is if we truly do love each other as brothers, and we actually entertain strangers, and if we remember those who are still struggling with sin. We know the author may be talking about people who have been arrested and are in a physical prison, however, people are also in spiritual prison to sin. Those who are still in prison may not be just those who have not yet found Jesus, but they could be believers who have been caught up in sin, trapped as it were with an attitude or behavior they cannot give up to Jesus. Then we have those strangers who may show up at church. We do have to ask how we treat those new people we do not know. Do we entertain them, or just ignore them? Oh sure, we might say hello to them, introduce ourselves, ask their names, and welcome them, and nothing else. To entertain means to exhibit hospitality, that act of being friendly and treating strangers as guests, which can also mean providing them food. Therefore, simply smiling at them, maybe shaking their hand, may not be much entertainment for them. Maybe we should invite that new person or couple out for lunch after church, get to know them, show a genuine interest in them, and be hospitable in the fullest sense. We know we have our little cliché, us four, and no more groups, but maybe, just maybe, that new person or couple are angels testing our love as believers under the divine direction of God. Then what about those who are mistreated? Who is mistreating them? Maybe we should ask ourselves if we might be guilty of mistreating our fellow believers. Maybe these little clichés are acts of mistreatment to others because we exclude someone, hurting their feelings, almost treating them as an outcast rather than a brother or sister in the Lord. We know the author may have meant believers who were either in prison or having really difficult times, suffering extreme hardships, or even being tortured by someone, but in our time, suffering could be at the hands of other believers. We mistreat each other when we gossip, and or when we exclude them in some way, not entertaining or being hospitable to our own fellow believers. If we just loved each other, we think that should cover everything and all would be well, and any angel that showed up would sense our love, as each one of us sense the love from all the others, as we entertained each other and entertained those angels.