Passages of Scripture

"Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers for by doing so 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. Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed pure, for God will judge the adulterer and the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have. For God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:1-5

As you may have figured out already, this is sure a long passage of scripture for me to write a devotion about. I almost always choose a verse or two and then, not long or complex ones. Until I saw these five verses together I had not realized they were such a compelling paragraph, and had only remembered them as pieces or verses on their own.

Kinda like this, yeah I know we should love one another, say it all the time, need to be reminded like you. Then, the next verse about angels, I use that because I have had those kinds of experiences and try to encourage some 'angel awareness'. The next verse about “no sex before marriage” is a favorite of mine and of course, no adultery or any immorality for that matter, easy to say, but very, very important nonetheless. Next is the verse about materialism, who doesn't know I talk about this almost every week? Lastly is the much-loved verse about how God promises to always be there.

In these five verses are listed half of my most often taught about principles for believers today, who are trying to follow Him in our fallen or quickly falling world. So what is my point? Sometimes a passage of scripture has more impact than a verse or two, especially when the summary verse is the one we like the best and quote the most. Think about this. Just maybe we sometimes feel left or forsaken because we don't really keep on loving our brothers and sisters, or because we forget to treat strangers like angels, or because we neglect the prisoners or ignore the mistreated, or we have been unfaithful or sink into immorality, or we are discontent because of our love of the 'things' money can buy. Hmmmmm.... This has given my spirit cause to pause. I see how what I desire in closeness from God could be being thwarted by me and my other desires and priorities, or lack of them.

Dear God, please be near me no matter how repulsive, undisciplined, selfish and flat-out sinful I am. Although that can be a sincere prayer, isn't it interesting just how high our expectations are of Him, compared to how low our expectations of His acceptance of our 'stuff' that gets between us and Him. I know He is perfect and He is a Big God, but do I so often have to be so small or low to prove it? Passages are sometimes more convicting than verses. Sure was for me this morning.

Humbly His,
Pastor Fred

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