The Importance of Hospitality
When you think of hospitality, you probably think of hotels that are there to serve you. You think of welcoming friends into your home for a nice get together. As Christians, we are called to do so much more. We are called to show our open hearts by opening our homes and opening our arms to those who need us. 1 Peter 4:9 teaches we should “show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” People learn by actions more than they do by words. A good deed like housing or caring for someone in need, and doing it without complaint, does more to advance the Kingdom of God than anything you could say.
With any disaster come groups of people in need. Houses are destroyed and people need a place to go. Or, like with the fire in Colorado, people are evacuated from their home and need a place to stay. When thousands of people are out of their home, hotels fill quickly. People need other places to stay. I was very fortunate to be able to stay in my home and also to be able to house someone. A friend of my father’s who was evacuated from the Air Force Academy needed a place to stay. Not only could we offer a place to stay, we could offer a sense of faith; faith that when things get hard, there will be someone there to help you out.
In times of strife and in times of joy, another thing we must remember is to help everyone. Inviting a friend over for dinner is easy. What is hard is inviting an acquaintance over to stay the night. We tend to be selfish people sometimes. We want something in exchange for our good deeds. A good deed, though, is doing something without any expectation that something good will come from it. In Luke 14, Jesus tells about inviting people over for a feast. He instructs the man to “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” because these are the people that aren’t going to be able to repay you in full for your gesture. You will be blessed for these actions. Remember these words. Do something to help someone in need because it is the right thing to do. Not because you want something in return. Be hospitable and show Christ in your actions.