Hebrews 13:1 "Let brotherly love continue."
This verse brings to mind two different ideas. The first thought that I have is
to allow love to flow into our hearts and then continue through, and out of, us
to one another. In this vein of thought, I hear the Lord telling me not
to stop the flow of love within myself. Peter stated it this way,
"As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to
another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." (1 Peter 4:10) I
am not to be as the Dead Sea in which water is only received; but, there are no
outlets in which the water can continue flowing.
The second thought that comes to my mind is for this love to continue within
me, even as I give it away. It is a true statement that you cannot give away
all your love. The Lord has a way in which the storehouse of love is always
replenished. Let the love that we have received continue within us. Do not
allow yourself to run dry.
I can hear the thoughts running through my mind, and possibly the minds of
others: "Yes, but what if others take my love for granted? What if
they do not return to me the love that I give to them? What if they take
advantage of my kindness?" To those questions, and possibly other
thoughts that come to mind, I would repeat the words we saw throughout this
book of Hebrews. What were those words? Well, I'm glad you asked.
"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
CONSIDER the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus"
(Hebrews 3:1) "For CONSIDER him that endured such contradiction of
sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."
(Hebrews 12:3) If we truly CONSIDER Him, we realize that all the grace
and mercy that He bestows upon each of us is not always returned to Him by our
love and consideration of Him. Yet, He never stops loving us and showing that
love.
If we continue to "consider" our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, then
we will also be able to ..."And let us CONSIDER one another to provoke
unto love and to good works" (Hebrews 10:24) To this, we might ask,
as the lawyer in the parable concerning the Good Samaritan, "And who is my
neighbor?" We might be tempted to ask, "To whom are we supposed
to allow this love to continue? - Just who is my neighbor?"
Brotherly kindness is the type of love under consideration in our text. In
Hebrews 13:2-4, He tells us who we are to extend this love, or kindness. First,
he mentions strangers. I realize we live in a different world and time, but
there are still ways in which we can reach out to those in need, even to those
we do not know. We are to extend our kindness to those in bonds. We do not know
anyone who is a slave in our day; yet, we do know those who stand behind the
counter at the drugstore, the grocery store, Walmart, and department stores. We
know those who wait upon others in hospitals and nursing homes. We know those
who we expect to jump at our every whim and desire. The writer of Hebrews tells
us to consider them and their situation. If you have ever been behind that
counter, you know what a difference one kind person can make in your day. The
writer tells us to be that one kind person. We do not know what is going on in
the life of the individual who is trying to serve us. Then, he tells us
in verse 4 to be kind to our spouses. We tend to take those closest to us for
granted. We tend to forget to say "please and thank you." Do we not?
(Hebrews 13:1) "Let brotherly love continue." I am
not to be the one in which love stops flowing. Lord, please open the floodgates
of my heart that I might show love in a more bold manner. Help me through that
action to better show my love for you.