Hospitality

Last week, we began talking about hospitality.   Here are a few things we touched on:

• The term "hospitality" has been hijacked by the world.  Hospitality is just a "love of strangers," meeting needs, and just a practical expression of love and service.  But today, it is often seen as fancy foods, fine china and showing off our decor.  The worldly definition leaves most of us feeling inadequate, and can discourage us from reaching out.
• Our homes are a stewardship from the Lord to use as he would have us use them, while the world tells us they are our escape, our palace and kingdom, something to build to comfort and please ourselves.  
• Sometimes the Lord leads us to provide hospitality, to invite someone or ones over, even on the spur of the moment.  This often leads to pretty big blessings all around.
• Our hospitality can be a way the Lord can reach non-christians, by allowing others to see a difference in our lives through our interaction with our family.  We talked about a story in which a communist who was converted said that what really convinced him of his need for the Lord was watching the way a christian husband and father interacted with his family.
• Hospitality is also really a form of sharing with others, so from a pretty early age, we can be working on that with our children.

There are practical ways to be prepared when the Lord leads us to invite others over.  It's good to be prepared.  But the ultimate preparation is a heart filled with the love of God for others.  That is what turns hospitality into a joy rather than a chore or a scary thing.

Lord willing, we will continue our discussion tomorrow!