God is amazing the way He works. Hebrews 13:1,2 tells us, "Let
brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby
some have entertained angels unawares.” When I just looked up that scripture, I
found a discussion of it by Tony Warren, http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/faq/entertain.html. There’s something very interesting that he talks about that I have not heard
before when I’ve heard people discuss that scripture. Usually when I’ve heard
people talk about it, they talk about the angels as being angels, which is a nice
reading, but Tony Warren talks about the word angels and how it translates
directly from the Greek word aggelos to mean “messengers,” and that “the word
translated Messengers is the ‘exact same’ word translated angels. It’s talking
about people, not Angelic beings.” He then states, “I believe that the idea
that these messengers in Hebrews chapter 13 are angels come down from heaven is
unbiblical. For once the Holy Canon was completed, there are no more
revelations through Angels of God come down to earth, or through miracles,
dreams, visions, tongues, etc.” He continues on, “The meaning of this verse is
that there are the Chosen of God (messengers) who we don’t know, and who may
not even know themselves as yet that they are chosen. But we are to be friendly
to all strangers, as some have entertained these messengers of God (the Elect)
unawares.”
Although I do personally believe that God does speak through
revelations because I’ve experienced it myself, there’s something about that
reading that I like very much. I like it that sometimes we will have people who
come into our lives who are God’s chosen and elect, who may not even know
themselves the gifts that they have to give. Very often it’s been my experience
that the most powerfully anointed of people are those who are the most humble
and they sometimes even almost resist the calling of God on their lives. They
love the Lord, but they don’t think they’re worthy enough or holy enough or
righteous enough or good enough to do His work in the world. They think they’re
just ordinary people, living their lives in the best way they know how, and
they know sometimes they’re sinful so they don’t feel like they’re God’s elect
or chosen at all. I remember saying to someone I know who has a calling to be a
Pastor that he had that calling, and he said, “Oh no,” almost like he wanted to
reject that word over his life. It wasn’t because he was rejecting God or even
because he wanted to live a sinful life. He just didn’t see himself as being
anywhere near good enough to hold that kind of a title.
The men I saw yesterday are men who have the glow of the
Lord all over them, but when you talk to them you’d think that they were just
ordinary guys. They don’t have any kind of pretension, and they don’t wear
their faith like a garment they’re proud of. They just live their faith and
live their lives in the best way they know how. That’s why it made me so joyful
that they thought well of me. They’re really the real deal, so if they think I’m
ok, I must be doing something right.
In the same article, Tony Warren talks about the idea of
being neighborly, and he notes a passage of scripture that he writes “Luke
30:36” but I think that’s a typo because that scripture does not exist. When I
did a search for it, I found reference to Luke 10:30-36, and I think that’s
what Tony Warren intended. Even if he didn’t, it’s what the Lord wanted me to
write about, because when I saw it, something in my spirit gave a great shout
of joy. It was one of those, “Ah, yes!” moments, when we feel we are finally
getting a message God wants us to hear.
Luke 10:30-36 is the parable of the Good Samaritan. “A man
was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of
robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him
half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw
the man, he passed by on the other side. So, too, a Levite, when he came to the
place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he
traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He
went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the
man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he
took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he
said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may
have.'” After telling this story, Jesus asks a question, “Which of these three
do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
That story has always been a favorite of mine. I was
actually in a play once many years ago that was based on several of the Parables,
and that was one of them. I’d never even read the Bible at that point, but I
still liked the story. And now when I read it, there is such richness to it, so
much that God has been speaking to me in so many areas of my life. This comes
now as another layer on the delicious cake He’s been making that He’s letting
me enjoy piece by piece. As I read it now, I see that this man who “fell into
the hands of robbers” could be any one of us who falls into hard times for
whatever reason. In John 10:10 Jesus tells us, “The thief comes only to steal,
kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”
In church we will often substitute the word “enemy” for thief, meaning the
devil, and when we talk about addictions and unhealthy habits and things that
keep us from a full and fulfilled life, we talk about them as things that come
from the enemy to steal, kill and destroy people. This man who fell into the
hands of robbers could be any of the people we see every day, people who live
on the streets, who are hungry and homeless and without the resources they need
to walk in the fullness of God. It could be any one of us. And it is when we reach out to those who need our
help, regardless of if we know them, if it is in our hearts to try to help in
whatever way we can, to bandage the wounds, to care for someone who may not be
able to say thank you, it is then that we can be a true neighbor to someone, to
love our neighbor as ourselves.
As always with God I have no idea where the meeting I had yesterday will lead,
but I do know that it was a joyful time I had yesterday, seeing these men who I
have cared about and knowing that they had appreciated that care. Love is never
wasted, and the beauty of God is that when we give it out we receive it back,
pressed down, shaken together and overflowing, poured into our lap. (Luke 6:38)
Blessings,
Jannie Susan
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