Followby 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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