Hebrews -- Holding on to JesusNäide

A Guide to Right Relationships

Picture a coach gathering their team right before the big game. The time for training is over, the strategies have been drawn up, and now it’s all about execution. In that huddle, the coach reminds the team of what they already know: Stick together, trust each other, and fight as one.

Hebrews 13 feels a lot like that final huddle. It’s a chapter full of practical wisdom, nothing radically new, but absolutely vital to remember. The chapter brings us back to the essentials, which are all about right relationships, with God, with others, and with the church. The first reminder is simple, yet profound: “Let brotherly love continue.” The Greek word used here is philadelphia, a love of deep friendship and loyalty, shared among siblings in Christ. It’s the kind of love that says, “You belong here. I’m with you. We’re in this together.”

OK, we should love our brothers and sisters in Christ. But what about strangers? Hospitality is a recurring theme in Scripture, especially for the early church where inns were few and often unsafe. To “entertain strangers” meant opening your home to traveling believers or welcoming new faces at church. The Greek word for hospitality literally means “love of strangers.” True brotherly love isn’t cliquish or exclusive to people you know and like; it reaches across the unfamiliar and welcomes the outsider. Much early church evangelism happened through the unexpected love of strangers. And here’s the surprising part: “By doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it” (v.2). Abraham and Lot did just that. But even more stunning is Jesus’s own promise: “Whatever you did for the least of these … you did for Me” (Matthew 25:35–40 NIV). We don’t love strangers because there is something in it for us. We love strangers because we are doing it for the Lord.

We’re also called to love the forgotten. “Remember those in prison as if you were there with them” (v.3 NIV). The early Christians faced real persecution, prison, beatings, rejection, torture and death. The writer calls the church to radical empathy: not just praying for those who are suffering, but feeling their pain as if we were wearing their chains. This same call extends to modern-day persecuted believers and to prison ministry today. Love goes beyond comfort zones. Sacrifice means it might be something we’re led to do that part of us doesn’t want to do.

The author goes on to talk about other types of relationships. One of them being marriage. Marriage is honored in God’s eyes, but today, it’s often trivialized, dishonored or diminished. The author reminds us: Marriage is honorable among all. The marriage bed is to be kept pure. God takes sexual sin seriously, not to shame us, but to protect us. Why? Because God designed sex not just for pleasure or reproduction, but for oneness. A deep, covenantal bond that reflects the faithfulness of Christ and His church. No wonder the enemy works so hard to distort it. This is why we need to be reminded to fight for what God holds high.

Next, we are reminded to “Be content with what you have …” (v.5). In a world obsessed with more stuff, more status, more recognition, God calls us to contentment. Why? Because He Himself is enough. “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV). Paul said it best: “I have learned to be content … I can do all things through Christ” (Philippians 4:11–13 NIV). Discontentment is a sure way to begin wandering into places and ideas that can be dangerous and destructive.

The next relationship the author looks to is our relationship with governing authorities. This was a tricky topic, especially given the tense geopolitical landscape of the time. We’re told to remember and follow godly leaders—those whose lives reflect the truth they preach. Leaders aren’t perfect, but they should point us to Jesus through their example and teaching. We’re told to be good citizens up to the point we can no longer be good Christians. We follow not out of blind loyalty, but because God uses leaders to shepherd His flock. A wise teacher once said, “Leaders should teach us to submit to God, not to themselves.” In this way, as Christians we must submit to leadership wisely and with discernment, but only up to the point we have to choose to submit to either that leadership or God. Once that distinction has been made, our choice is always submission to God, even if that leads to disobedience against government.

In the final point, the author moves from horizontal or human relationships and instead points to our vertical relationship to God. This is the most important relationship, and it will impact all the others. The author reminds the reader and us today to continually offer to God a life of praise through our words, actions and in our relationships.

It’s not complicated. What God desires has been laid out in a clear and concise way. Now it’s time to go out and execute.