I Peter
4:9 NIV Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
True
confession time. How do you feel when someone is coming over for a visit?
Do you
panic, thinking of all the cleaning and organizing that has to be done before
your house is "company ready?"
Are you
excited that you can serve people because of your home?
Are you
worried about what people will think when they see your house?
Do you
look for opportunities to reach out to others and sharing your home with them?
Do you
and your family get stressed out in the process of preparing for company,
nearly exhausting yourselves, grumbling and complaining and then put on the
"We're so glad you're here face?"
Peter
reminds us about the kind of attitude we should have regarding being welcoming,
kind and hospitable to others. While he doesn't specifically reference a home,
I think his admonition can be applied to that. It's so easy to fall into
complaining and grumbling about all we have to do to prepare for company
instead of being joyful about the opportunity to use our home for fellowship
and ministry.
Right now, partly due to an aged pet, and other choices and changes in this season of life, I confess that our home is often not "company ready." However, sometimes, people end up dropping by anyway. I remember a recent situation where I had spaghetti ready for the family, and was able to offer our young adult visitor a plate on the spur of the moment. As a young man, he seemed eager to take me up on it, not having had dinner yet.
My house
was not pristine, but food was available, and hopefully a non-complaining, kind
spirit was in the home. That's what hospitality is about. Yes, we are working
through getting our home in better order--I'm going through my book as a
participant with several others online. I'm not dismissing the value of taking
better care of our place. But offering a
warm welcome even if the home is not in great order is something I think God is
more interested in than whether someone could eat off our floors (they can't.)
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