The practice of hospitality

Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:13

My wife is a avid user and lover of Pinterest.  She loves it for the recipes, birthday ideas, and all the other unique resources and ideas it offers. The ideas are great, as they aid in allowing you to step up your hospitality game and other points of interest.  But for the sake of this conversation I want to deal with the topic of hospitality, as our culture makes “hospitality” and “entertaining” interchangeable words, when in reality, they’re not. I believe many of us don’t obey the hospitality command because we’re actually thinking of entertaining.

Ultimately, entertaining is for the glory of self and is about impressing our guests. If our aim is to impress others, then we feel the pressure to have the newest decor line from Target and a 5-star worthy meal. Dear friends, Scripture never calls us to have a spotless home. It never calls us to throw birthday parties so extravagant it puts ourselves and wallets under stress.

“Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.” (1 Peter 4:9).

Biblical hospitality is what Rosaria Butterfield calls, “radically-ordinary hospitality.” While entertaining focuses on self, biblical hospitality focuses on others. When we’re participating in the hospitality God calls us to, the mindset is no longer, “How can I make myself look good?,” but “How can I make others feel loved?”

In The Gospel Comes With a House Key, Rosaria says hospitality is, “using your Christian home in a daily way that seeks to make strangers neighbors, and neighbors family of God.” Satan tempts us to live for the glory of self. He reminds us our recipes aren’t fancy or our walls need a fresh coat of paint, and we shrink back from the hospitality God commands. When we replace this lie with truth, there’s beautiful freedom. When I view my home as a gift from God to steward for his Kingdom (and not mine), the pressure is lifted. When using this gift is about loving others well instead of making myself look good, I don’t worry so much about the juice stain on my couch.

This world isn’t our home. Our money and possessions will one day fade. The question is, will we use these fading things for the unfading glory of God? Will we use them to build our kingdom that will one day crumble, or God’s Kingdom that’s eternal? May we open our hearts, homes, and grocery lists in radically ordinary ways, so others will see the radical love of Christ. 

“Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us” (Acts 16:14-15).