This article is compiled from notes I took at a Sisters’ Meeting.
One of the earliest recorded examples of hospitality took place under a tree. Abraham urged three strangers to stay with him and graciously prepared a labor-intensive meal for them. With no travel plazas or fast food options near Mamre, these probably weren’t the first strangers Abraham hosted.
Hospitality like Abraham’s is a God-anointed idea. It is one way we demonstrate the love of God to strangers or fellow believers, fulfilling 1 Peter’s commandment that says, And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves [love each other deeply]: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use [offer] hospitality one to another without grudging –1Pe 4:8-9. Other New Testament writers also encourage being hospitable. Hebrews 13:6 says we should not neglect to do good to others, but to share what we have as a sacrifice to God. Hebrews also tells us to entertain strangers. Being hospitable is a requirement for leadership in Timothy. And Romans tells us all to be “given to hospitality.”
Since God wants us to be hospitable, whom should we invite? Our closest friends and the folks we love the most? Yes, definitely, but let’s not stop there. If hospitality is an opportunity to reach out as a witness of God’s love within us, we should invite the lonely, the ones with no family in the area, the needy, the blind, and those who don’t have the means to repay. Invite the discouraged or the tired moms who need a break.
This broader view of hosting guests changes our question from “Who would we enjoy being with today?” to “Who does Jesus want in our home today?” At a Sisters’ Meeting at church, a group of ladies listed excuses that keep them from being hospitable. “Our house is too small.” “Our house is too dirty for guests.” “We are remodeling.” “I am too tired.” “My life is so full already.” “I don’t keep food on hand for spontaneous hospitality.” “We are strapped financially.” “I am not a good cook.” “I don’t have anything to offer.” “I’m not a people-person.”
But the same group of ladies extends hospitality often enough to know its benefits. Here are a few of them. “Hosting deepens or forms friendships, both for adults and children.” “When we serve, our focus is taken off ourselves.” “Hospitality teaches our children to interact with others and serve them.” “Money spent on others is a way to lay up treasures in heaven.” “Laughter, that good medicine, happens.” “Unbelievers hear the Gospel.” And, very practically, “Hospitality is an incentive to clean the house.”
What hospitality looks like varies from host to host. Some sisters love to pack their house full, serving food buffet-style and sending the overflow of guests to eat in every room of the house. Others prefer quality conversations with each guest and invite a few people at a time. Our godliness is not measured by the amount of people in our living room at one time (Abraham had three). The heart of hospitality is to love people enough to find a way to host them. Sometimes that requires creativity.
A young mom with four preschool children said, “Right now it doesn’t work well for me to have a group of guests over for Sunday lunch. When we get home from church, the children are tired, hungry, and cranky. I can’t stretch around to guests, food, and children. But since God calls us to be hospitable, we look for other ways of doing that. On holidays, I cook extra food and take it to our neighbor who can’t cook for himself. I sat with another neighbor whose dad died early one morning. We are involved in city ministry and open our home one night a week to city youth who want a safe place to hang out and talk. I make baby meals for people at church and send along a breakfast casserole for them. While I can’t always go to the homes of the hurting, I can always text or call someone who is having a hard time. In these ways, I’m able to offer love and hospitality, even in this stage of young motherhood.”
Indeed, hospitality is more than something that happens at Sunday lunch. The Bible talks a lot about serving the poor, the needy, and the widows. Hospitality is reaching out to others with the love of Jesus. We do this by offering what we have with gracious hospitality. Meals for guests do not need to be elaborate and expensive.
Numerous sisters testified that the best hospitality they received happened over simple meals: “One time we visited another church and met someone we hadn’t seen in a while. She invited us for lunch saying, ‘I don’t have anything prepared, but I have a loaf of bread and peanut butter and jelly.’ We went there and had a wonderful time of sweet fellowship. The simple lunch didn’t matter.”
Hospitality is making people feel at home with you and comfortable in your presence. It is not about your house or your food, but about your heart and your attitude toward your guest. Guests can tell when hosts are interested in their lives or if they are preoccupied with house and food.
One woman said, “My dad used to invite strangers home all the time for meals. He brought home hitchhikers or offered lunch to men who worked for a few hours on the farm for a couple hours of pay. Once when he was in a minor car accident, he talked with the guy from the other car while the police wrote up the report. By the time the police left, they were friends and the man came home with dad for lunch. Dad wasn’t the greatest conversationalist, but that didn’t matter because people felt his love for them.”
The children of that hospitable father are adults now with families of their own. By observing their lives, it is apparent that there is another reason we should open our doors in gracious hospitality: our children learn by example. In our sisters’ meeting, many of the women who practice frequent and unstressed hospitality came from homes whose parents regularly hosted guests. Our obedience to our Father in this area will live on in the lives of our children, touching the next generation with a taste of God’s blessing.
God, give us grace to open our hearts and our doors to those we meet.
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