Articles
Be Hospitable to One Another
“Be hospitable to another without grumbling.” - 1 Peter 4:9
Hospitality can exist in many forms, but we typically view hospitality as something related to our homes. It’s also something that we typically think of as something women need to work on, but before you click away guys, there are some things we need to work on too. It’s clear in the Bible that God expects His followers to be kind, caring people, and I think we as Christians have a good grasp on these qualities. We’re good at being polite, saying a kind word, and helping people when they’re down. But have you ever tried to do more? Have you ever opened your home to have someone stay with you, or even as little as have a common meal together? Our homes are personal, safe places. It can be hard to open it up to people we don’t know well. Some people love it, but there’s probably just as many people who are uncomfortable at the thought of “entertaining” guests. Hopefully this article can help the ones who struggle at the thought of being hospitable, but also those of you who enjoy having people in your home. All of us can improve in one way or another which is what God wants from us after all. He’s not expecting us to be amazing at everything, but He is expecting us to grow in all areas of our life.
How many times have you had someone in your home this year? How many of those people were not directly related to you? How many of those people were not in your “friend group”? I believe we all need to look at ourselves in the mirror often and examine how we are living our lives. I’ve thought of three possible excuses that may have stopped you from inviting someone into your home:
You might say, “Our family is too busy. We never have any free nights to have someone over.” This is understandable and is a reality for many of us. We all live very busy lives and it can be hard to fit anything extra in. However, I believe there are so many blessings that can come from these types of interactions. We should always make these edifying experiences a high priority in our lives.
“Our house is too small/dirty/ugly to have someone over. I’ll let someone with a nicer or bigger house do that sort of thing.” Unfortunately, this is something that Americans have to struggle with. In this country there can be such a large variation of wealth and the biggest and most prominent way that it is typically shown is in the house you live in. We as Christians should not be ashamed of the houses we live in. The Bible doesn’t say we should only be hospitable to people if we have nice, big homes. It’s all about the people in the house that matter. I could go on about this, but in summary, we all need to look less at the physical condition and more at the spiritual opportunity before us.
“I’m a terrible cook, having people over would be embarrassing.” I once read something from Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography where he recounted a memory he had from childhood. His dad would invite guests to their home for dinner, but he told his wife to prepare the blandest food she could for the guests. He did this because he didn’t want the food to take away from the fellowship he would have with his guests. When you really think about it, this guy might have been on to something. Do we as Americans put too much emphasis on the quality of the food we eat? The food we eat is so unbelievably temporary, how much more should we be craving the food that never perishes?
We live in a physical world. We live in homes, we eat food for sustenance, but these physical needs so often take our focus away from the most important parts of our lives. Inviting someone in your home can be extremely rewarding if our focus is on the Lord. Looking back at Luke 10:38-42 with the story of Mary and Martha having Jesus in their home, we see that the serving and logistics of the dinner distracted Martha. “Mary has chosen the good part” Jesus said. Mary saw the opportunity before her, to be with Jesus. Something I know all of us would give anything for, to sit at His feet for an evening. But, so often, we find ourselves being like Martha, distracted by the physical world around us, forsaking the opportunities to get closer to Jesus.
As we are in the middle of the holiday season, most likely you will have opportunities to show hospitality over the next few weeks. If we are just using our homes for a gathering spot, we’ve possibly missed opportunities for very powerful fellowship with people of like faith, or possibly good conversation with someone outside of the family of God. Our homes can be great tools for the Lord’s work.
And for next year, ask yourself a few questions:
- Do I truly have an excuse to not have people in my home, or is it just me trying to stay in my comfort zone?
- Are the people I invite to my home just the people I’m comfortable with?
- When we have a gathering, is there ever any talk about our spirituality or is it just always shallow conversations or fun and games?
Being hospitable is a very open act. You’re inviting someone into your personal space, inviting them to know you more personally, and openly showing your life to them. This can be scary, but it WILL be so encouraging and uplifting for everyone involved. If our focus is on spiritual growth and not just the physical, we will grow closer together just by being a little Hospitable to One Another.
Justin Douthitt
