The NIV 365 Day Devotional

Loving One Another as Brothers and Sisters

Loving one another as brothers and sisters is an embodied calling to concrete actions and practices. The author of Hebrews offers three exhortations to remain in this love. We are called to host strangers as if they were messengers from heaven, to remember those in prison as if we were together with them in prison, and to identify with those who are mistreated as if our own bodies were under the same oppression. The three exhortations overturn our typical understanding of the stranger, the imprisoned and the mistreated.

The very notion of otherness is challenged by this passage. The writer describes the rich interconnectedness of believers, saying that the oppression and exploitation of others has something to do with us. Your oppression affects me, and my oppression affects you. A radical empathy nurtures this love.

The hospitality commanded in this passage, however, goes beyond empathy. Strangers should be recipients of our love and compassion, but they should also be treated as possible agents of God’s messages. The passage commands not only the host’s empathy but also the strangers’ dignity. People who are settled in one place (for the time being) are called to exercise their hospitality through discernment and humility as well as through charity.

Christian love invites us not just to help those in need, but to collectively work to dispel the disagreements that have limited our churches’ imagination about families and communities in vulnerable conditions. We must listen to differing voices on this topic while holding to Biblical truths. This requires not only engaging in positive action but also renewing our minds and hearts by the Spirit.

Taken from the NIV Upside-Down Kingdom Bible.