Thought for the Day – Tuesday 23rd June
‘Keep on loving one another as
brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to
strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels
without knowing it.’
(Hebrews 13: 1-2)
In some translations this little piece of text is entitled ‘Service
Well-Pleasing to God’ and so it seems quite appropriate that it follows closely
on the heels of our text from yesterday of Samuel being dedicated to God and
serving God throughout his life and God empowering Samuel to serve him at all
times- all of which resulted in ‘service well-pleasing to God’.
We talk so much in our faith of service and our call to serve. As
Christians we are always being encouraged to love sacrificially, to think of others
before ourselves and to reach out in love to all whether friend or foe.
Sometimes that call to serve can seem so daunting but actually I think in
reality that is because we make it seem daunting. It is as if we somehow forget
how God helped Samuel throughout his life and we imagine that to serve God so
sacrificially ourselves must be beyond us and our skills and our talents.
However, as many people have found during this time of Coronavirus it can actually
be very simple to serve sacrificially.
What do we do?
Well, we just go about the business of loving others and we do that by
trying our best to show care towards them, to value them and to serve their
needs before our own. We simply get on with this task of loving without seeking
to draw attention to ourselves and in so doing our hope and prayer is always
that in every action we undertake in service of God we can somehow brighten
another's day, lessen someone’s burdens, ease someone’s fears, show them they
are cared for and loved.
We may not be able to open our homes to others at present but we can
still show hospitality to others by opening our hearts to friends and to
strangers alike some of whom may just be angels in disguise.
‘Brother, sister, let me serve
you, let me be as Christ to you…’
Prayer
Loving Lord,
You call us to share your love, to show hospitality to friend and
stranger, in your Word you have given us so many examples of those who showed
such love and such hospitality. Yet, Lord we do sometimes doubt we can ever
‘live-up’ to those examples. So Lord, as we try in our lives to follow your
call to serve sacrificially by your grace, take us deep into the heart of
hospitality and help us to understand that the generosity the world needs will
often demand sacrifice on our part. Give
us eyes to see where your love is needed, give us hearts to feel the pain of
others that we might try and ease it, give us hands willing to reach out in
love to those burdened in any way. May we in serving you never seek to draw
attention to ourselves but rather simply share your love, show hospitality and remember
we may be entertaining angels in disguise. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
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