Your mission...should you choose to accept it

Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies. (Hebrews 13:1-3)

Keep on...the call for the new year. It is not a time to sit back and just watch...it is a time to rise up and take action. Love each other...as brothers and sisters. No family is perfect. No relationship is always without stress or strain. We must work at loving one another as Christ loves us.

Three missions for the new year: 

Show hospitality to strangers. Give comfort, provide meals, present gifts, and lend them help. The Latin word “hospes” means “visitor”, so we are to look after and care for them. How can we make someone's life a little more comfortable? What act can we perform that will minister to their need?

Remember the prisoner. This doesn't always mean we visit or write to people in prison. It could be that we help their families as they go through the terrible experience of separation and loneliness. We may be their only friend at the moment, sober a great friend. We might become aware of a need to help clothe their child for the upcoming school cycle, or get those much needed repairs done on a rickety old car. Meet the need in both a practical and emotional way.

Don't overlook those who are being mistreated. No one likes to be treated cruelly or with unfairness. How can we be the balance they need in a world that so quickly judges them and rejects them because of their looks, economic status, or some other silly thing? The bully will always seek to mistreat the one they believe to be weak, so become the one who bolsters the strength of the one who is singled out for any type of mistreatment.

Keep on loving each other as Christ loves you. Their is no time like the present to begin to fulfill your mission. Your mission is clear, but will you accept it? Just asking...