Today I Choose Hospitality...

Today I choose hospitality. To open up my home for fellowship and use the house that God has given me as a blessing to others.
I love a good party! And at our house we are always up for having someone over for dinner. So to be honest, I thought I would be getting more confirmation out of studying this word than challenge, but God always has things he wants us to learn!
As I looked up verses about hospitality, I did find confirmation and really think that God has blessed Kyle and I with a heart to open up our home. We have always wanted people to feel welcome and comfortable at our house and are always up for people stopping by. As I was reading God really challenged me to evaluate my motives behind my hospitality. We see a great example of hospitality through Mary and Martha in Luke chapter ten. Jesus visits them and during his time with them Mary sat at Jesus' feet listening to what he said, while Martha was busy taking care of all the things that had to be done. Martha was so distracted by the preparations that she didn't realize she was neglecting her guests. We have to make sure that we don't turn hospitality into busy work; we need to find a good balance between serving our guests and engaging with them while we serve.
Romans 12:9-13 says, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." The commentary for these verses in my Life Application Study Bible was very challenging to me today! "Christian hospitality differs from social entertaining. Entertaining focuses on the host - the home must be spotless; the food must be well prepared and abundant; the host mush appear relaxed and good-natured. Hospitality, by contrast, focuses on the guest. Their needs - whether for a place to stay, nourishing food, a listening ear, or acceptance - are the primary concern. Hospitality can happen in a messy home. It can happen around a dinner table where the main dish is canned soup. It can even happen while the host and guest are doing chores together. Don't hesitate to offer hospitality just because you are too tired, too busy, or not wealthy enough to entertain." Do I focus more on the needs of my guests or on making myself look good? I like to have a clean house that is decorated cute and I like to make good food when people come over, but that can't be my main focus! I need to focus on my guests and seeing how God might use me to encourage them. I should be ready to join in true fellowship, not just casual conversations about things that don't really matter. I should be open and willing to share about what God is teaching me and ask questions about how life is going for my guests. Hospitality isn't about making myself look good, it's about reaching out and opening up my home as a place of ministry.
It's also important for us to remember to not only invite our good friends over, but people that we don't know as well. Hebrews 13:1-2 says, "Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." These verses are referring to three people in the Old Testament who entertained angels without knowing. We can so easily convince ourselves to not show hospitality with excuses that our home isn't big enough or nice enough, that we just don't have enough time, that inviting over someone we don't know will be awkward or that people just wouldn't enjoy themselves. But we are called to open up our homes, whatever they look like and whatever size they are and make people feel welcomed and comfortable so that true fellowship can happen.
So today I choose hospitality!