With Sunday having been Mother’s Day, I decided to write about something I’ve learned from my mom.  God has blessed me with a mom who loves the Lord and loves others, and one of the many lessons I’ve learned from my mom is hospitality.

I took a spiritual gifts test once, and my lowest scoring gift was hospitality.  This shocked me, because my mom definitely has a gift for hospitality.  I kind of thought I would have inherited this gift somehow, but I didn’t.  I usually try to excuse hospitality as being a gift for extroverts like my mom, and introverts like me just aren’t made for hospitality.  However, there isn’t such an excuse in Scripture. 

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.  Romans 12:10-13

Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.  Hebrews 13:1-2

Hospitality is a part of the Christian life.  But what is hospitality?

The Greek word for “hospitality” is philonexía,which means to love strangers or be generous to guests. 

It’s easy to mistake hospitality as having a beautiful house with coffee continually available, but hospitality isn’t about a house.  Hospitality is showing love to others, especially to strangers, through out generosity. 

My mom does this very well.  When there’s someone new at church, she makes an effort to reach out to them, learn their interests, and introduce them to others.  If someone is having a bad day, she’s ready to listen and pray with them.  My mom is always ready to invite people over for dinner or allow people to stay at our house.  My mom shows love to others by being generous both with her resources and with her time.   

As an introvert, hospitality isn’t easy to learn, but my mom has consistently pushed me to learn how to reach out to others.  I love 1 Peter 4:8-10 when thinking about hospitality:

Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.  1 Peter 4:8-10

Hospitality is one of the ways we can keep fervent in our love for one another.  However, we must be hospitable without complaint.  That’s hard for me.  I can easily get annoyed with having people come over unexpectedly which throws off my plans for the day, or I complain about reaching out to someone new because it’s uncomfortable for me.  But true, God-honoring hospitality is selfless – it’s serving others out of a love for God first, and out of that love for God flows love for others, enabling you to show hospitality with joy. 

The last verse in 1 Peter 4:8-10 says to use our gifts in serving one another.  The final aspect of hospitality is to use the gifts we have to love others.  Hospitality is simply loving others and showing them generosity, and there are many ways to do just that.  We can show hospitality through cooking a meal, writing a card, going on a walk, simply striking up a conversation with someone, and more.  What matters most is that we’re taking the time to show others the love of God, and God’s love is the ultimate hospitality. 

I have a long way to go in learning hospitality, but I’m so thankful that God blessed me with a mom who demonstrates hospitality and encourages me to learn how to be hospitable.  My prayer is that I will learn to show others the love of God through my generosity.  May we reflect God’s ultimate hospitality to those around us! 

With love,

Kelsey