There are many valuable exhortations, instructions and admonitions in this portion. They all have value for your lives. I want to spend several days going over them to speak to you about them so that they may be applied very practically to your lives. You will recognize how that many of these are disregarded and disobeyed among My people. But as you follow them in your life, you will be a living testimony to their truth, to their eternal value. By doing so you will help to challenge those who may not have considered them or those who have taken them lightly. Notice that the first exhortation concerns brotherly love. Always remember that without love, even what seems to be good conduct is not really a genuine manifestation of what is in My heart. Recall how I have told you that apparent obedience without love is not real obedience. And did not My Son declare that love would be the basis whereby those who were truly His disciples would be recognized? When My servant says let brotherly love continue, he recognized that this expression of My life is often tested and some find it easy to grow weary and to cease to practice brotherly love.

When the admonition is given to entertain strangers, it is a reminder that hospitality is not a gift that is to be exercised by selectivity that is rooted in personal convenience and self-protection. There should be in the heart of My true sons and daughters a desire to bless all who are in need.

And one of the strongest ways that anyone can bless another is to extend with an open heart the hospitality of their home. This should be counted not as a great sacrifice and an inconvenience, but rather as a privilege, truly as an opportunity to express the brotherly love that is commended here. And as a means of encouraging those to whom he writes, My servant writes that some have entertained angels by extending hospitality to strangers. In other words you may unknowingly become honored to care for those whom you in generous giving seek to honor. You are encouraged also to remember your brothers and sisters who are suffering in imprisonment or persecution. And the reason for this is that My Word declares that when one member of the body suffers, the whole body suffers. This is indeed actually one of the most significant expressions of brotherly love. It is declaring that you regard yourself as one identified with and suffering with those in prison and mistreated for the sake of My Son. And when it declares remember them, it means more, much more than calling them to mind.

For as you do remember, are you not prompted to pray for them, if possible to visit them and to do everything that you can to extend brotherly love to them. If there is any place where love must be foundational and faithfully practiced, it is in marriage. So when marital faithfulness is admonished here, understand that without it that which I have given as the foundation of a healthy and honorable society is greatly undermined. Those who take lightly My order between men and women and who practice unfaithfulness out of selfish indulgence will surely receive My judgment. And this is especially true among those who profess to be My people and followers of My Son. Now understand this, that those who may fall into these sinful ways before they come to faith can be cleansed and forgiven if they truly repent, renounce their former deeds and walk in faithfulness. But for those who may fall once or twice after coming to faith there is forgiveness if they also repent and forsake the unclean way. But for those who insist on practicing fornication and adultery whether secretly or openly, there is only My sure judgment. For such conduct not only defiles marriage, but discounts it as My order for the blessing of mankind. And surely one who lives this way can in no wise practice brotherly love. My son and My daughter there is much more to this admonition than merely a proscription of unbridled sexual activity. For to make light of the order that I have established for the blessing of My people is to defy Me in the most basic way. And you know that My Son declared that such an attitude and such a practice does not begin in the act itself, but in the thoughts and what is held in the heart. And I stress this word to you so that you may prize very highly the example that you maintain of honoring marriage. And because this dishonoring has become all too common among My people, it is very important that you hold precious in your hearts the testimony that you bear. When you or anyone may lack contentment with what you have, it surely will open the way to covetousness. And since covetousness involves wanting what is possessed by another, recognize that this also is a great denial of brotherly love. But see that the writer reminds those who might be tempted with discontent and covetousness that I have promised to those who trust Me that I will never leave nor forsake them. Thus covetousness and discontent manifest unbelief, a failure to truly trust in My promise.

But those who do trust can confess with the Psalmist that they can recognize that I am their helper, and they need not fear anything that men can do to them. When you have such an attitude in your heart, you will find that you can walk in great contentment and without fear. Notice that the writer declares that your confession will not be timid or reticent, but bold. The one who has such confidence in Me will be a giving, generous, faithful and loving brother and friend. For he has great satisfaction in all that he possesses and a great willingness to share it with all that have need. Can you see how this is truly the very opposite of covetousness? Can you see that such a person is well able to express brotherly love? Yes, My son and My daughter, such an attitude of heart leads to the kind of conduct that shows you have become truly free in My Son. And I will say more to you from this portion concerning the conduct, which is to characterize your walk. These are not rules. These are how genuine brotherly love expresses itself.

Tags: Brotherly Love, Conduct, Contentment, Testimony