How can I practice religious hospitality?

Religious hospitality is an expression of love

Unlike entertainment, hospitality does not seek to impress, network or create obligations. Instead, seek to serve. As hosts become increasingly sanctified, their hospitality will increasingly be an expression of love for certain guests. Biblical hospitality seeks to demonstrate love in ways that each guest recognizes and feels. He speaks to guests in their own language, just as God speaks to us. This means taking into account each guest's situation, if we are aware of it. Are they grieving? Are they celebrating something? Are they suffering from morning sickness? Do they have a teenager who needs a thoughtful talk? Is a group dinner the best thing for this family or do they need a quiet dinner? Would a widower feel overwhelmed by young children, or would they be welcome diversion? These are some ways we need to think about how to love each guest, meeting their known needs whenever possible.

If all these things characterize religious hospitality, what is its fruit? What can religious hospitality do?

Religious hospitality promotes altruism Because it is other-focused and requires sacrifice, biblical hospitality will be a tool that God will use to eradicate self-centeredness in us. For example, in the middle of a big move, my husband and I were suddenly homeless, living in a hotel room with two young children, trying to find a new job and status. When a couple from church found out, they invited us to live in their house until ours was available. After we arrived, we learned that she had had cancer surgery two days before we arrived. This level of sacrificial love did not come out of nowhere: it was years of giving one's home and self to others that continued and bore fruit, even in the midst of great difficulties. God not only uses hospitality to sanctify, but also to show the beauty of sanctification.

Religious Hospitality Offers Refuge

Our world is very broken, and increasingly so. An open home shaped by Scripture is a safe place in an insecure wilderness. In hospitality, religious homes are places where people are physically protected from abuse and danger. They are places where it is emotionally safe to not only rejoice, but also mourn all kinds of brokenness that comes from a fallen world and sorrows that come from fallen people. religious homes should be spiritually safe places to confess weaknesses and sins, finding real help in the context of biblical love.

Religious hospitality deepens fellowship

It creates time separate from the rush of daily life to separate for a few hours and talk – to know and be known. This is especially true if guests feel comfortable opening up and everyone can talk about how they are really doing and how the Lord is working in their lives. This often increases their love for each other. It would be strange if we could hear an older father mourning an apostate son and not feel love for both of them. It's almost inevitable to hear the single woman explain her breakup with a godless man and feel grateful for her faithfulness to Jesus. God designed these bonds to form as we open our homes and hearts to one another.
Religious hospitality honors the Lord. Practicing hospitality is part of loyalty. But, just like in life, we cannot control the outcome of our hospitality. We can open our homes with the best intentions, motives, and preparations, only to end up with strained relationships and messy kitchens. Our job is obedience, trusting the Lord to use you in the best way, even when we can't see. This is why practicing biblical hospitality is part of walking by faith and not by sight. And perhaps it is this aspect that makes him not only distinguished in this world, but also very useful in the kingdom of Christ.