“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.”
Hebrews 13:2
By all human calculations, 2026 Nigeria is not a place to help a stranger. In fact, the world climate right now is not favorable to the instructions in this scripture. Because how do you help a stranger in a messed-up and scary world? What do you do when you have a good heart, but evidence out there suggests that other people may not have the kind of heart you have, and their intentions may not be as pure as yours are? Chances are, they are more evil.
I mean, check the news. There is more evil being reported than good. And it is a scary time we live in.
I saw a post on TikTok recently. A man saw two toddlers in the middle of the road in the U.S. He parked his car, ran out, picked up the children, and began looking for where they were coming from. It turned out that the children’s parents were inside the house. They were staying in an Airbnb, and apparently, while the parents were inside, these toddlers opened the door, left the house, and wandered into the highway.
The Risk
I watched the video and thought it was beautiful. But when I went to the comment section, the reaction shocked me. People kept saying things like, “And he was sued, right?” “He was arrested, right?” “He went to court, right?” I was confused.
As I read further, I realised that there had been a similar situation in the past where a mother turned around and sued the man who helped her child. So the general conclusion in the comment section was that it would have been better for that grandfather to leave the children alone than to put himself at risk for helping. And I thought to myself, how do you get into trouble for helping?
How do you help someone in a world where helping can get you sued? Where helping can put you in danger? Where supporting someone can land you in serious trouble?
Danger Alert
Here in Nigeria, things are so unsafe that you can literally be looking for a lift and walk into danger. You can stop to help someone on the roadside and end up in serious trouble. Yet God still tells us to help strangers.
Now, don’t think I am perfect at this. I am someone who believes strongly in “stranger danger.” Once I see you as a stranger, my antennas go up. I do not trust you easily because I do not know you, and I am constantly thinking, this person could put me in harm’s way.
But Jesus, through this scripture, is telling us not to hesitate to help strangers. When we see a stranger, we are called to extend help. We are called to be like the Samaritan who helped the wounded man on the road (Matthew 25:35–40). He helped someone he did not know, someone from a tribe and faith he was not even supposed to associate with. He took him in, cleaned his wounds, and paid for his care. Meanwhile, people of the same tribe and faith passed by and did nothing.
It is easy to talk about what we are supposed to do. But practicing it is another thing entirely.
What To Do
So how do we help strangers in a messed-up and scary world? You lean on the Holy Spirit.
You cannot do this world by yourself, especially as it becomes scarier. You need the Holy Spirit to help you differentiate between danger and safety. You need the Holy Spirit to tell you, “This person has ulterior motives,” or “This person truly needs help.” Compassion must never override discernment. There will be times when the Holy Spirit will warn you not to help, and you must obey that. And there will be times when He will nudge you to help, even when fear is loud.
The truth is, you can never be qualified enough on your own to know who will harm you and who will not. Because most times, danger does not look dangerous. It often looks harmless.
If you want to obey God’s Word as a person of faith and courage, you must depend on the Holy Spirit to open your eyes, your ears, and your heart. And if you have become so afraid that helping people now feels impossible, then you need healing too. That is also the work of the Holy Spirit. Yes, the bad is louder than the good. But not everybody outside is bad.
When God sent us to Badagry, we did not have anywhere to stay. A stranger took us in. Yes, a pastor we knew told us about him, but we were meeting him and his wife for the first time that very day. We stayed in their house for over a month.
A stranger helped us, who were also strangers. You never know when you yourself will need help. So you need to heal fast, through the help of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer
I pray for you today. If your heart has been hurt because you helped someone before and were disappointed, may the Lord heal you. I pray that your heart will open again. That love will be shed abroad in your heart. That compassion will fill you again.
But I also pray that you will have discernment. That you will know who to help and who to avoid.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Shalom.
