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Entertaining Angels

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by Brian Waple

“Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!” (Hebrews 13:2, NLT)

Listening to Pastor Steve speak about this passage on Sunday brought back a memory I have from my childhood, around January 1966. I was in the fifth grade and had driven down from Virginia with my grandparents to visit relatives in Florida. Driving back to Virginia on I-95, we hit a freak snowstorm and had to stop at a gas station in North Carolina. My grandfather went into the station to ask about the conditions heading north. He was told that traffic was stopped on the highway and they couldn’t get through.

In the station, my grandfather met Mr. Royster (I’ll never forget his name), a farmer who lived nearby. He told my grandfather that he would be happy to put us up until the road cleared (maybe a day or two). So, we followed Mr. Royster back to his farmhouse and settled in with him and his wife to wait out the storm.

Now, from my viewpoint, we were no angels, and this was long before I had any cognitive understanding of Christian morality. But I guess Mr. Royster knew a thing or two about showing hospitality to strangers. After we left, I don’t know if there was ever any follow-up with Mr. Royster and his wife. But, that act of kindness left an impression. Even as a naïve 10-year-old boy, I understood that caring for others in their time of need is important.

When Pastor Steve spoke on this, it brought up several questions in my mind: How do I show hospitality to strangers? Or more importantly, do I show hospitality to strangers? And if I don’t, why not? It mattered to Mr. Royster and it certainly matters to God, so shouldn’t it matter to me? I think it’s easier at times to think other people will step up and care for those in need . . . I have more pressing issues. But really, as a Christian, what could be more important than showing kindness to strangers? It goes hand in hand with the second part of Jesus’s Great Commandment: You must love others as you love yourself. I know that for myself, I need to reflect more on the passage from Matthew 25 (“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” [Matthew 25:40, NLT]) and ask God to show me how I can be more responsive to His invitation to join in where He is working.

As we go through our everyday lives, we have the possibility of “entertaining angels.” How do you sense God is calling you to respond?

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Foreign Languages

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Jeff Foerster

Traveling outside the United States is eye-opening. Suddenly, surrounded me are people speaking a “foreign” language. At first glance, it seems like some elaborate immersive stage drama concocted for my amusement. Each display of writing is a puzzle of interpretation, and my pocket-dictionary attempts at conversation or, at a minimum, seeking direction feel clumsy.

And so it is with loving others. It’s easy to love others when we speak a common language. If I appreciate receiving physical touch, it may feel natural to give a handshake, pat on the back, or hug. We very often “speak” the same love language that we long to “hear.” Loving outside our “language” requires learning and humility.

Knowing oneself and how we desire to be loved is essential, but it’s only the first step toward loving others. Hebrews 13:1 commands us to love, to set aside ourselves in deference others. Engage with someone else in conversation about their love language, watch over time how they act when they love others; it can be quite revealing. Use what you find out to target that person, sharing the love that you have received from God in a language they can understand.

And herein lies the rub: to be a sustainable action, this love must come from a deep place, greater than any human can conjure. Only with God, filled with His Spirit, is this possible!

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Do this in remembrance of Me . . .

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Harsh Words and the Gladness of God

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By Jason Comerford

What does the word repent bring to mind for you?

I’ll bet it’s not pleasant. For me, it conjures images of angry protesters with signs. Yelling preachers with pointing fingers. And this heavy, heartfelt exhaustion of yet ANOTHER thing I’ve apparently done wrong. It tires me.

It’s not a word that I naturally incline toward.

I’ve only been a Christian for 12 years, but one of the most consistent qualities of my walk with God has been His apparent love for giving me good things in unexpected, often unwanted, situations. Relationships I didn’t want now strengthen me as my closest friends. Injuries and illnesses have conveyed the tender care and kindness of our Church community. Financial difficulty has grown a steady—and happy—confidence in God as our faithful provider.

There’s a pattern to much of the Christian life: happiness seems to be found in the most counterintuitive places. The places where death, particularly death of self, dwell.

Which brings us to that unhappy word—repent.

In this Sunday’s sermon, Jeff read from Revelation 2:1-7, wherein Jesus calls the church in Ephesus to repent, or change their minds about something.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Easy to miss in there is the powerful line “Consider how far you have fallen!” Jesus’s call is, I think, not merely about making a decision but about coming to a conclusion. Repentance is as much a coming to your senses as it is an actual decision you make.

So what is Jesus calling them to? Change their minds about what? Come to their senses about what? Consider how far they’ve fallen from what?

Himself.

More specific to this situation, they’ve lost connection with their first love, Jesus Himself. The source of all glory and goodness. The Happy, Holy God of Heaven wrapped in flesh, who gave up His life in order to save them. There’s no greater treasure to be had, and they’ve wandered off from that.

So for the Ephesians, and for all of us, that painful word “Repent!” conceals something wonderful.

It’s an invitation back into all joy with the God of Heaven.

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