Your ability to love depends on your growing knowledge of Christ.
Hebrews 13:1-8 (NIV)
13 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
6 So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere men do to me?”
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Canons of Dordt
Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election
Articles 1-10
Article 11: Election Is Unchangeable
Just as God is most wise, unchangeable, all-knowing, and almighty,
so the election made by him can neither be suspended nor altered, revoked, or annulled;
neither can God’s chosen ones be cast off, nor their number reduced.
Summary
New Testament epistles (letters) often end with a list of exhortations (short, practical instructions) like what is found here at the end of Hebrews. So much of Hebrews is focused vertically, demonstrating what Christ came down to do for humanity. This final passage draws some horizontal conclusions from those vertical doctrines; in other words, it shows how a people who are in Christ ought to interact with those around them.
Notice the ongoing aspect of each of the commands: keep on loving; do not forget to show hospitality; continue to remember; keep the marriage bed pure; keep your lives free from the love of money. The Christian life isn't defined by a flash-in-the-pan decision to believe in Christ, but rather a lifelong pursuit of godliness day after day.
There's another common thread that runs through these instructions, but it isn't as apparent in English as it is in the Greek this passage was originally written in. But since Greek is easier to understand than you might think, you can recognize and make sense of some of the key words used in this passage:
v1 - phila-delphia - Keep on loving your brothers
v2 - phila-xenias - Remember to love strangers (the word xenophobic means fear of strangers/foreigners)
v5 - a-phila-argyros - Do not love silver/money (The a prefix negates the verb (phila / love) that follows. Now you know why the symbol on the periodic table of elements for silver is AR!
Based on this passage, you could easily summarize the Christian life in just two words: directed love.
Dig Deeper
These exhortations at the end of Hebrews are not just a cold, harsh collection of do's and don'ts meant to define your religion. That's the problem so many people have; to them, doctrine seems dry and boring, and it seems so much more efficient to just cut to the chase and focus on the practical outworkings of Christianity. So they try to live according to these sort of instructions, detached from their doctrinal foundations, and sooner or later end up burning out.
So be sure to understand these commands in their context! First of all, they come at the very end of one of the most detailed books in the Bible explaining who Christ is and how He has forever accomplished your salvation. It only makes sense that in order for you to live and love the way Christ did, you must first know Christ well. In the same way, in order to keep on living and loving as Christ did, you must keep on coming to know Him more and more. The learning never stops for Christians!
Secondly, notice how these exhortations are rooted to the very character of God right in the passage they come in. When it's hard to love like Christ and be content with what you have because the world continually presses in on you, you can remember God's promise to you: that
Never will I leave you;
Never will I forsake you.
No matter how your circumstances change on a continual basis, you can keep on living in love because you know that:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who will never forsake us;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will come to know Christ in a way that causes you to live in love toward him and all those around you;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Hebrews 7
