June 26th, 2023 Monday Motivator
Last week was eye-opening.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, we had one of the worst storms I have seen in an awhile.
You might have seen it on the news or live here, but we had up to 100mph wind. THAT’S CRAZY!
Thankfully, our home didn’t take much damage, but we did lose power.
It was very inconvenient due to the busy week and the things I needed to plan for the upcoming week.
This challenge opened my eyes, and my heart became more thankful. That’s the beautiful thing about challenges – there is always something to be learned and gained. We can even be grateful amid chaos.
For me, that was simply the act of hospitality.
Before you cut me off and stop reading, I challenge you to open your heart.
Hospitality was something highly encouraged in the bible to do.
Verse upon verse, we are told to show hospitably. The Lord wants us to have and develop this trait.
But ask yourself, how often do you see this anymore?
How often do you show it?
Hospitality in Greek comes from the word philoxenos meaning “loving strangers.”
I was overwhelmed with amazement when people began to reach out and open their homes to me until my electricity returned. It should be all about this: helping and welcoming one another!
Extending your hand when someone needs it or opening up your home to someone who is in need is something Christ has called us to do. We are all called to meet each other’s needs as God’s hands and feet.
The body of Christ is called to do for one another and strangers – those we don’t know and may not be believers.
I love that the definition of hospitality is “loving strangers” because that requires us to get out of our comfort zones which I believe has caused the deterioration of the love of hospitality.
We only know how to love those who love us, not those who don’t, so we stay in that bubble. (Luke 6:32)
Hospitality is the perfect picture of the love of Christ and should be shown more often in today’s age.
Christ’s love drives hospitality.
To love all, whether stranger or not, is a heart that beats like God’s.
How can you begin to show hospitality to those around you?
Hebrews 13:2 says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
1 Peter 4:9 says, “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
Romans 12:13 says, “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”
Matthew 25:40 says, “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'”
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