Daily Thought

Among the final exhortations come those to remember, vv. 3, 7, and not to forget, vv. 2, 16.‘Let brotherly love continue’, he writes. Note the emphasis on continuance. Brotherly love will not thrive on neglect. Two ways follow in which such love may be shown: by hospitality, v. 2; and by sympathy, v. 3. Don’t forget to entertain strangers, we are told. The God who we worship is a lover of strangers, Deut. 10. 18, 19. Elders are to be given to hospitality, 1Tim. 3. 2,and so are all saints, Rom. 12. 13. Neither is it to be shown only to those in fellowship, but to strangers. A good exponent of this was Gaius, 3 John 5-7. Those who are prisoners and those who suffer adversity are to be remembered. Brotherly love shows itself especially with the afflicted. Sympathy is fellow-feeling. It means putting oneself in the position of the sufferer. So the law of sympathetic fellowship is pressed home, cp. 1 Cor. 12. 26.

These Hebrews were to remember their former guides, Heb. 13. 7. They were to consider carefully their teaching, their faith and the outcome of their conduct. These guides had died, but they had left a heritage, and their influence remained. Their loss would be keenly felt, as is the loss of all such believers, but they should remember God’s promise never to leave them, vv. 5, 6. Further, though these had died, their Lord and Saviour not only abides forever, but remains the same, the eternal, unchangeable Christ, v. 8. There may be change and loss of believers who are beloved, but Him they could never lose. As believer-priests the duty to give to those in need, to ‘communicate’, v. 16, was not to be forgotten. That went along with the sacrifice of praise, placed first here as of primary importance, v. 15. Nothing is so unworthy of a Christian as a fretful spirit, a gloomy temper, or a morose look. The real element of sacrifice comes in the word ‘continually’, for that involves self-surrender and self-denial. Another sacrifice is ‘the fruit of our lips which make confession to His Name’ RV. If we love the Lord Jesus it should be natural for us to say that we do. What motive is there for such sacrifices? God is well pleased with them, v. 16. Why this repetition of remembering and not forgetting? Simply because we do just that!