Christian Hospitality: Four Tips to Help the Hesitant Hostess
It’s been a little while since I posted here. I’m hoping to soon get back to my blogging roots here on Chronicles of Momia. But for now, this is an article I shared recently on The Joyful Life blog. If you’ve been hesitant to open up your home, perhaps this article will encourage you, and provide a few practical “how-to’s” and a small glimpse into some of our craziest hospitality adventures.
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I used to think I needed an extra bedroom to host overnight guests—matching pillowcases, shell-folded towels, and a perfectly placed Andes mint on the pillow.
But when a couple we barely knew welcomed us into their tiny Manhattan apartment, the Lord began to renew my mind. As we pushed furniture to the wall, plopped an air mattress on the only floor space left in the room, and spent the night only feet away from our new friends, a fresh take on hospitality—Christian hospitality—came into view.
Though their space was small, their large hearts made us feel at home as they asked about our journey in the Lord. With gentle questions and caring hearts, their listening ears allowed us to share freely. On a weekend where we started as acquaintances, we left as lifelong friends.
In Romans 12:10-13, Paul exhorts the saints, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love… practicing hospitality” (NASB). The writer of Hebrews takes our calling a step further, encouraging, “Let brotherly love continue, do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers” (Hebrews 13:1-2a).
In the last days, “the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). All around, we see examples of this. A world that is indeed “deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures,…hateful, hating one another” (Titus 3:3, NASB). Who can scroll through the headlines without feeling the heaviness?
But while men around us faint from fear (Luke 21:26), the Lord’s call to His church is clear: Do not neglect hospitality. Even if you don’t feel like a natural Martha Stewart (or hold the gospel burden of Rosaria Butterfield), perhaps we can borrow a phrase from Paul’s encouragement to Timothy and begin to “do the work of an evangelist” anyway (2 Timothy 4:5). If you’ve been hesitant to open your home in the past, perhaps these four tips will help you reconsider.
continue reading at The Joyful Life blog
