When Hosting Becomes the Gospel: My Story of Biblical Hospitality

When I set-up my house, I had a million dreams. I knew I needed a puppy, something to play with and to join me on the couch when I needed to cuddle. I carefully placed books on a shelf and set-up a display of my china tea cups. As I unpacked, I imagined card games and dinners with friends. Our house had 3 bedrooms. One was ours, one was for guests, and the other became a library. I hung the biggest Monet replica we could afford above the couch.

I tried to set everything in it’s place. When we had guests coming over, I ran around trying to make sure everything was as clean as possibly. And I fought with Hubby.

I wanted things cleaner and better.

Appearing to have a well-kept place was one of my greatest priorities.

So I was snippy when he wasn’t working fast enough or when he told me to stop and take a break. And especially when he said that we should just let people in as it was.

If someone called or stopped by, he invited them in and asked them to stay for dinner, even if I was already in the middle of making it for two. It was infuriating.

But it was giving.

It was the miracle of fellowship. It was taking fajitas for two and multiplying it into a meal for three or four when someone stopped by unexpectedly. It was cracking into my heart and realizing the facade I labored constantly to create. It was letting people into my messy home and my imperfect heart and creating a place where the hungry could stop and eat and sleep in the guest room and on the couch.

Stopping your life for others, and letting them do the same, took all of my heart. It called on me to not just be a host but to pour myself into true hospitality. I love my Hawaii family, my ohana. They are a part of my forever now.

Opening my home to another requires that I give of myself. It is a sacrifice. A beautiful one, but a sacrifice nonetheless.

Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. – Hebrews 13:1-2, ESV

The Bible calls for me to show hospitality to strangers. I’m supposed to welcome those I do not even know into my home willingly. How much more so should my door be open for friends and neighbors?

If my day cannot be interrupted for these unexpected opportunities to show love to those around me, something has gone terribly wrong.

Christ gave every last breathe He had on my behalf.

I can surely open my door and give an evening to serve those around me.

As I sit here, I survey my messy house. I still try to pull out my tea cups and to make sure there is toilet paper in the bathroom when people are coming over, but now I have stopped playing Martha. When someone enters my home, I stop and sit and give myself.

I don’t know what the answer is for the issues of home-opening dividing America but I do know, when opening anything, a heart, a home, your life, is hard. It’s sacrificial and it takes every bit of ourselves. But it’s how we live the out Gospel.

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