They Could be Angels

There is is line from Hebrews which has been and continues rent space in my head and heart.

Hebrews 13:2 The Message 

13 1-2 Stay on good terms with each other, held together by love. Be ready with a meal or a bed when it’s needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it!

This is one that catches me every time when I am hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. I start acting out my feelings and this keeps floating back to the surface in this heart and of mine.

It surfaces a lot when I am facing bureaucratic craziness. I want to blame, I want to rant. I want to let everyone know that the machine is unmanageable at best and quite possibly demonic in its darker days. But then there is this person in front of me that is just doing their job and getting paid far to little for it. They aren't in charge and may never be. They just have to deal John Q Public, or in the case Kurt Brown. That is when this verse seems to float by..."This could be an angel, Kurt." Is this really how you want to act? When a thought floats by at that precise moment...do I think that this is coincidence? Not a chance.

The nameless writer of Hebrews tells me to be hospitable to everyone that needs my hospitality. I guess that even applies to long lines and bureaucrats. So you may be thinking your reason for civility, Kurt, is that they might be angels? Certainly, who knows where they go when they have to speak with their supervisor. Maybe their supervisor is my supervisor, advocate, and the first born from the dead.

Revelation 1:5 The Message

4-7 I, John, am writing this to the seven churches in Asia province: All the best to you from The God Who Is, The God Who Was, and The God About to Arrive, and from the Seven Spirits assembled before his throne, and from Jesus Christ—Loyal Witness, Firstborn from the dead, Ruler of all earthly kings.

Just remember the next time that you want to rant about this or that as you wait in line...they could be angels.