Hospitality

How hospitable are you? Do you welcome others into your house? Would you invite a family member to stay with you? Are you willing to host family members for several days, weeks, or even months? Would you do so for a fellow Christian?

Being hospitable comes naturally for some of us, while it is a significant challenge for others. Maybe we should first describe hospitality. It is not throwing a party but inviting someone in as though they were family. It is opening your home to host and care for them.

Hospitality was a key trait of the Hebrews of the Old Testament. It continued to be key to the early Christians. It was expected of a Christian to welcome any other Christian into their home, especially if it was a travelling apostle, preacher, teacher, or messenger. The host would provide a place to sleep, meals, and information about the local area.

Being hospitable comes from the spiritual gifts of giving, helping, and serving. All of them contribute to being hospitable. We may be especially gifted with these gifts. We may not. If we are not, we can ask God to gift us with them. Desiring to have these gifts is key to us acquiring them. God is willing to gift us to better serve one another.

Even if we are not gifted with these spiritual gifts, we can work toward being hospitable. We can train ourselves to be hospitable. It often means overcoming fear and anxiety, but we can ask God for that as well. Our challenge is to desire to be hospitable to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I pray we all desire to be hospitable. I pray we ask God for the spiritual gifts to be hospitable. I pray each one of us will welcome our brothers and sisters in Christ with the love of Christ. Ask God to make you hospitable. Ask for the spiritual gifts of giving, helping, and serving. Desire to be hospitable. Welcome your brothers and sisters.

Hebrews 13:1-3 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 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.