One noon time as Abraham stood in the tent door he saw three men coming near. They were strangers to him, but he hastened to meet them and said, “I pray you go no further in the heat of the day. Come and rest here under the shade of the tree, and I will have water brought that your feet may be bathed, and I will have something prepared for you to eat, and after you are rested and refreshed you may go on your way.” The strangers accepted the invitation, and Sarah and the servants soon had a dinner prepared for the guests, and they ate while Abraham stood by to wait upon them and show them every honor. It was not long before he found that his guests were messengers from God. The promise that a child should come to their home was given to Abraham again, but now one of the messengers told Abraham just when Sarah’s son would be born. He said, “At this time next year.” And Sarah heard what was said as she stood in the tent door near by. Can you think how happy Abraham and Sarah must have been that day? What a joy it was to them that they had provided the very best they had for people who they thought were mere strangers. See what our memory text says. (Hebrews 13:2.) Here is a command from that same chapter (verse 16). To “communicate” means to share the good things that you have with others.
At the Christmas time when the birthday of Jesus is near, I am sure we all wish that we could share the good things that we have with him. Have you ever thought what you would have done if you had been in Bethlehem the night Jesus was born? This is what some one has said:
If I had been a sleeping guest
Lodged at the inn that Christmas night,
When the wee Lord was laid to rest
In the cold stall in humble plight,
I know I would have waked, instead,
And given him my warm, soft bed.
How glad any of us would be to do that. Is there anything we can do? This is what the rest of the poem says:
But I was not a lodger there—