Message from Scripture: 10/26/2021

 

Our message from Scripture today comes from Heb. 13:3; “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”

 

When the Hebrew writer penned these words, his readers could understand how difficult it must be for those who, for the sake of the gospel, were suffering this humiliating fate. The apostle Paul also knew what it was like, as he spent time twice under arrest in Rome. The writer also mentioned Timothy having been released, using a term that indicates one set free, as a prisoner. Written around AD 67, the persecutions against Christians in the Roman Empire were harsh and cruel, which had been instituted by Nero. Some of them had, as recorded, endured a great conflict of sufferings themselves (Heb. 9:32).

 

How do the difficulties of life affect us? There are many challenges life present to us, and some act as stress points in a person’s life. How do we know what is going on in a person’s life, the inward suffering, they may be enduring? We should be sympathetic. None of us are put together the same way, and what we may view as insignificant can be a great obstacle to others. We need each other for encouragement, for help, for comfort, to just be there at such times.

 

We should not think ill of others for what they may silently endure, for we all have our issues that can bring us to our knees, if not now, then perhaps in the future. We should love, pray, and help each other through the trials of life, that we all can overcome and gain the victory in Jesus. As Paul commended the church in Philippi, “Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble” (Phil. 4:14). Let’s show others Christ at work in us, by encouraging each other in those times we may need it the most. May our hearts be knit together in love (Col. 2:2), knowing, whatever it may be, we are in it together. God bless.

 

Robert