The Heart of Hospitality

It is not about creating a fancy image for ourselves as hosts, but about meeting the needs of our guests. It is not just an open invitation to visitors to be guests in our homes, but an invitation to strangers to be friends in our hearts. Rather than wait for chance to appear, it constantly pursue and work hard to seek opportunities to manifest itself. This is the hospitality of the Spirit of Christ.

Jesus Christ came to meet our greatest and deepest need of all, love. He came to transform us from strangers into friends so that we might feel accepted and welcomed into the house of God. He made himself totally available to another in order that the person’s hunger for love and acceptance is met. Such is the hospitality of the Spirit of Christ- to love & care for others by trying the best that we can in our abilities to meet their needs; welcoming them into the home of our hearts.

But I’m starting to see how such hospitality stretches those who try to practice it, for when we open the doors of our hearts to people, we are also opening our hearts to dangers that we may sometimes receive from those of opposite characters. These dangers include pains, disappointments and sufferings, which unfortunately is unavoidable because it is the reality of our current world.

Though aware of the many possible dangers the heart may suffer, I want to continue pursuing hospitality all the days of my life (at least I hope I will), for you’ll never know when you’ll be entertaining ‘angels’. It will be heartbreaking to miss the opportunity of entertaining those whose presence can be a blessing in our lives. More so, it will be tragic to miss the opportunity of touching the hearts of those who may really be in need of the gospel. We may not be able to see its reward now, but one day, in retrospect, I believe we will find that welcoming such guests was worth more that what it had cost to entertain them.