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"Show hospitality to one another without grumbling."
(1 Peter 4:9)
I love hosting people. I enjoy welcoming people into our home and making them feel safe, loved, and cared for. I look forward to pulling out my tea set when girls come over for discipleship and making it feel special. I look for excuses to host parties and celebrate others. This season of my life has me throwing lots of baby showers for friends. I relish baking those sure-fire crowd-pleasers and serving them on a well set table. But at the same time, I love when the youth we serve at church come over when the place is a mess and play with my son. I love opening the door to the Jehovah's Witnesses that frequent my neighborhood, even when I'm in the middle of cooking and the kitchen looks like a tornado ripped through. I want to always be willing to open my door and my heart to whoever God would send my way.
That wasn't always the case, however. As someone who loves to host, I wrestled with welcoming people in when it didn't look perfect. What would they think of me, after all? I then had a realization: hospitality is not about perfection, it is about availability. Simply being available to say "yes" when someone comes your way requires a view of hospitality that isn't about pretty serving trays and mastered, Instagram-worthy recipes. It is about treating people like Jesus would and making space for them to belong, whenever and wherever that happens.
1 Peter 4:9 says, "Show hospitality to one another without grumbling." This shows me that the heart posture of our Christian hospitality matters. We can make up the spare room or pull-out couch with a heart that just wants to get someone's visit over with, or we can ask God how we can use the opportunity to bless, encourage, or even share Christ with our guests.
There are many ways we can grumble while showing hospitality. We can grumble because we wish our guests simply weren't there, and we want to be alone. We can grumble because the circumstances of their visit aren't as we would prefer: maybe things aren't as clean as we would like or it comes at a busy time for us. We can grumble because the person is very different from us, and how they live, act, speak, or believe is not only different but perhaps makes us uncomfortable. Any attitude that would hinder you from welcoming someone into your home, your church, or your friend group with Christ-like open arms is a form of grumbling.
Hospitality can be costly. It can cost you your time, comfort, money, or routine. Let us remember the radical lengths that Christ went to in order to welcome us into the family of God.
How far, then, are you willing to go to welcome someone into your life and your home?
Christ calls us to be hospitable, but it matters how our hearts are engaged in the act. Ask the Lord to give you His eyes to welcome someone into your life, church, group, or home this week with a cheerful heart.
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