What is your definition of hospitality?
What does it look like in your life?
You might be picturing four-layer cakes from Southern Living magazine.
My grandparents are my litmus test for what hospitality looks like.
They welcome anyone and everyone. No matter the timing. Good or bad.
One time, a couple showed up on their doorstep and said "Well hey Betty and Steve we were in town and wanted to see if we could stop by and spend the weekend with you guys!"
To this day, for the life of them, my grandparents have no clue who this couple was.
Yet they invited them in.
Gave them a place to stay for the entire weekend.
My grandmother even woke up early to fix homemade sausage biscuits. And indulged in endless hours of conversation.
She probably called them "sweetie" the entire time due to not knowing their names.
They had a grand ole time with perfect strangers to them.
All without causing this couple to feel unwelcomed, unknown, or unwanted.
My grandfather would always buy old televisions from the local thrift store, he would have one in each room of the house, even the bathroom, so that everyone in the house could watch whatever they desired.
I'm pretty sure my grandmother considered it a sin to let a guest leave her home without a gift.
One time, she did not remember that my sisters boyfriend was coming over. She did not have a gift prepared for him.
She rummaged through her things, came back into the room, while holding the straightest face she presented him with a gift that she said made her think of him the moment she saw it...
she handed him a cremation urn.
It was more embarrassing for her to present him with nothing than to give him an urn!!
Their love for welcoming people is something I strive for.
I just recently finished a 13 day study on Biblical hospitality.
Did you know that the Greek word for hospitality is --> Philoxenos.
Phileo meaning 'brotherly love' and xenos for 'strangers.'
God's original design for hospitality is extending ourselves in love to strangers.
It's not hosting dinner parties on special occasions with people we know.
"I read about Jesus sitting around a table with the shunned and the sinners in Matthew 9. I see Him in John 4, sharing well water and conversation with a woman everyone else ignored. In Matthew 19, I watch Him invite-not just tolerate-the presence of little children and the beautiful distractions they bring.
When I look at Jesus, our culture's false definition of hospitality as dinner invitations and etiquette, clean homes and casseroles, pales in light of the bold example of the most radically welcoming person who's ever lived.
In Jesus we see that hospitality begins in the heart."
Day 6 of the study encouraged reading a story found in Acts 27:39-28:10.
Go. Read it. Now.
'Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.' Acts 28:1-2
Before the townspeople even had a chance to learn that the men were prisoners, they welcomed Paul and the rest of the bunch and showed them unusual kindness.
In a culture where taking people in was certainly more commonplace than it is today, something about the way these Maltan people went above and beyond what was expected stood out, even to Paul.
It didn't matter to the Maltans who those men from the ship were. They were a bunch of prisoners-people on the way to receive punishment for their crimes-but they were caught off guard, renewed and rescued with unusual kindness.
Does this kind of kindness sound familiar?
'But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.' Titus 3:4-6
Biblical hospitality is something I would like to improve on.
What does it look like in your life?
You might be picturing four-layer cakes from Southern Living magazine.
My grandparents are my litmus test for what hospitality looks like.
They welcome anyone and everyone. No matter the timing. Good or bad.
One time, a couple showed up on their doorstep and said "Well hey Betty and Steve we were in town and wanted to see if we could stop by and spend the weekend with you guys!"
To this day, for the life of them, my grandparents have no clue who this couple was.
Yet they invited them in.
Gave them a place to stay for the entire weekend.
My grandmother even woke up early to fix homemade sausage biscuits. And indulged in endless hours of conversation.
She probably called them "sweetie" the entire time due to not knowing their names.
They had a grand ole time with perfect strangers to them.
All without causing this couple to feel unwelcomed, unknown, or unwanted.
My grandfather would always buy old televisions from the local thrift store, he would have one in each room of the house, even the bathroom, so that everyone in the house could watch whatever they desired.
I'm pretty sure my grandmother considered it a sin to let a guest leave her home without a gift.
One time, she did not remember that my sisters boyfriend was coming over. She did not have a gift prepared for him.
She rummaged through her things, came back into the room, while holding the straightest face she presented him with a gift that she said made her think of him the moment she saw it...
she handed him a cremation urn.
It was more embarrassing for her to present him with nothing than to give him an urn!!
Their love for welcoming people is something I strive for.
I just recently finished a 13 day study on Biblical hospitality.
Did you know that the Greek word for hospitality is --> Philoxenos.
Phileo meaning 'brotherly love' and xenos for 'strangers.'
God's original design for hospitality is extending ourselves in love to strangers.
It's not hosting dinner parties on special occasions with people we know.
"I read about Jesus sitting around a table with the shunned and the sinners in Matthew 9. I see Him in John 4, sharing well water and conversation with a woman everyone else ignored. In Matthew 19, I watch Him invite-not just tolerate-the presence of little children and the beautiful distractions they bring.
When I look at Jesus, our culture's false definition of hospitality as dinner invitations and etiquette, clean homes and casseroles, pales in light of the bold example of the most radically welcoming person who's ever lived.
In Jesus we see that hospitality begins in the heart."
Day 6 of the study encouraged reading a story found in Acts 27:39-28:10.
Go. Read it. Now.
'Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.' Acts 28:1-2
Before the townspeople even had a chance to learn that the men were prisoners, they welcomed Paul and the rest of the bunch and showed them unusual kindness.
In a culture where taking people in was certainly more commonplace than it is today, something about the way these Maltan people went above and beyond what was expected stood out, even to Paul.
It didn't matter to the Maltans who those men from the ship were. They were a bunch of prisoners-people on the way to receive punishment for their crimes-but they were caught off guard, renewed and rescued with unusual kindness.
Does this kind of kindness sound familiar?
'But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.' Titus 3:4-6
Biblical hospitality is something I would like to improve on.
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