Haikus through Hebrews, chapter 13

Snippets of Hebrews' Final Instructions

Continue in love,
Showing hospitality,
Honoring marriage

Keep your character
Free from the love of money
And be satisfied

Remember those who
Led you, who taught you God's word;
Imitate their faith

Those who serve the law
Have no right to eat at the
Altar of Jesus

We seek the city
To come; through Jesus let us
Praise God and give thanks

Continue doing
Good and sharing with the poor,
Pray for believers

Obey your leaders
They watch over you with joy;
Do not give them grief

The God of peace works
In us through Jesus to please
And glorify him

Listen patiently
Greet all your leaders and saints
Grace be with you all

"The result of it all, again, is glad and uninhibited worship (verses 15-16).  This, rather than endless dead animals, is the 'sacrifice' that God really wants.  God wants people who will name the name of Jesus, in prayer, worship and testimony, even if it costs them dear.  Their witness will bear fruit.  And the common life of the Christian community, the life of generous-hearted fellowship, is itself in that sense a 'sacrifice', an act of worship.  God is delighted with it.  Never allow yourself to get into the way of thinking that, just because nothing you can do can earn his favour, God isn't pleased with what you attempt in his name.  Precisely because love cannot be earned or deserved, it is always delighted when it receives answering love.  As the final section of the letter will insist, this too is, in any case, the work of his grace."

-from Hebrews for Everyone, by Nicholas Thomas Wright (copublished in 2004 by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, and Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, KY)

In other words, we have nothing to offer God that isn't already his.  In fact, even our offerings of praise, worship, and prayer are enabled by God's grace at work in our lives as we grow in adoration of him.  His love for us grows our love for him!

 *Important Note: Please read through the whole of Hebrews (I recommend the English Standard Version or New American Standard Bible) for contextual significance (and significant context!).  As always, I pray that the Spirit will cover over any errors made on my part, and most importantly, that He will speak truth to your heart.  To God alone be the glory!

13:1-2
Let brotherly love
Continue. Do not neglect
To show kindness and

13:2
Hospitality
To strangers, for by doing
This some have welcomed

13:2-3
Angels as their guests
Without being aware of
It. Remember those

13:3
In prison as though
In prison with them, and those
Who are mistreated,

13:3 (continued)
As though you yourselves
Were suffering, since you, too,
Are in the body.

13:4
Marriage is to be
Held in honor by all, the
Bed kept undefiled.

13:4 (continued)
For God will judge the
Sexually immoral
And adulterous.

13:5
Keep your life free from
The love of money, content
With what you have, for

13:5 (continued)
God himself has said,
"I will never leave you, nor
Will I forsake you,"

13:6
So we may boldly
Say, "The Lord is my helper,
And I will not fear.

13:6-7
"What can man do to
Me?  Remember your leaders,
Those who spoke the word

13:7
Of God to you, and
Considering the outcome
Of their way of life,

13:7-8
Imitate their faith.
Jesus, the Messiah, is
The same yesterday

13:8-9
And today and for
Ever. Do not be carried
Away by all kinds

13:9
Of strange teachings, for
It is good for the heart to be
Strengthened by grace,

13:9 (continued)
Not by food laws that
Have never benefited
Those who follow them.

13:10
We have an altar
From which those who serve the tent
Have no  right to eat.

13:11
For the bodies of
Those beasts, whose blood is brought in
To The Holy Place

13:11 (continued)
By the high priest as
A sarifice for sin are
Burned outside the camp.

13:12
So Jesus also
Suffered outside the gate, that
He might sanctify

13:12-13
The people with his
Own blood.  Let us then go to
Him outside the camp,

13:13-14
Bearing the disgrace
He bore. For here we have no
Lasting city but

13:14-15
We seek the city
That is to come. Through him then
Let us offer the

13:15
The sacrifice of praise
To God continueally,
That is, the fruit of

13:15-16
Our lips giving thanks
To his name. Do not neglect
To do what is good

13:16
And to share what you
Have, for such sacrifices
Are pleasing to God.

13:17
Obey your leaders
And submit to them, for they
Watch over your souls

13:17 (continued)
As men who must give
An account.  Let them do this
With joy and not grief,

13:17-18
That would certainly
Not be for your benefit. Pray
For us, for we are

13:18
Sure that we have a
Clear conscience, desiring to
Live honorably

13:18-19
In everything we
Do. I especially urge
You to pray so that

13:19-20
I may be restored
To you the sooner. Now may
The God of peace, who

13:20
By the blood of the 
Eternal covenant brought
Back from the dead our

13:20-21
Lord Jesus, the Great
Shepherd of the sheep, equip
You with everything

13:21
Good to do his will,
Working in us that which is
Pleasing in his sight.

13:21 (continued)
Through Jesus Christ, to
Whom be glory forever
And ever. Amen.

13:22
I urge you, brothers,
To receive this message of
Exhortation, for

13:22-23
I have written to
You briefly. But know that our
Brother Timothy

13:23
Has been released. If
He comes soon, he will be with
Me when I see you.

13:24
Salute all them that
Have the rule over you, and
All the believers.

13:24-25
Those who are with us
From Italy salute you.
Grace be with you all.