Hebrews 13:1-5
Be Content
1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
We are given some good advice by the author in the closing of his letter...The author tells us to:
Love one another as a brother or sister, because this is a part of loving your neighbor
Show hospitality to our neighbors, because this is a part of loving your neighbor
Show hospitality even to strangers, because this is part of loving your neighbor
Remember those in prison, as if you were in prison, because this is loving your neighbor
Remember those who are mistreated, as if you yourselves are suffering, because this is a part of loving your neighbor
Marriage should be honored, and the marriage bed should be kept pure, because God will judge the adulterer
Keep your lives free from the love of money
Be content with what you have...
We can see the author knew that loving your neighbor as yourself (and you should love yourself as you love your neighbor), is one of our Great Commandments that Jesus teaches us (Mark 12:31)...Then the author adds, that marriage should be honored by us...Then he tells us to keep free from the love of money, and then to be content with what we have...If we combine these last three topics of advice, we are told to be content with our marriage and with the amount of money we have...This is good advice on being happy and content, when we are satisfied with the situations and the circumstances, we are in...St. Paul learned this type of contentment (Philippians 4:11-13)...Many think St. Paul wrote the Book of Hebrews...
In a most beautiful verse, God has said never will I leave you, and never will I forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6)...The true believer, in reading this, has faith that God has been with them at their birth, in their lives, will be there in their death, and then be with them in heaven...Jesus tells us I AM going to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:2-3)...The Father and Son will never leave us, and God with His love for us, then through His grace, will never forsake us...Our God and His love will always be with us...