You Are Invited

The table was scattered with steaming bowls of various shapes and sizes. A pretty centrepiece sat perched upon the middle of the table. The scents that wafted through the air were nearly intoxicating to a hungry belly.

As my friend passed the gravy she noticed that it was nearly empty and needed to be refilled. Her husband’s banter was sarcastic yet amusing as he shared the sentiment that the milk pitcher didn’t hold nearly enough gravy as an actual gravy boat. My friend turned to me and shared that this is why they do not entertain very often. They do not have nice things, and she does not have a spirit of hospitality.

Quite often people confuse entertaining with a spirit of hospitality. Entertaining is simply providing someone with amusement whereas hospitality is to love strangers. In the Hebrew language the word hospitality means to accommodate, and in Greek the word for hospitable is philoxenos which means loving strangers

Romans 12:13, Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

To entertain rarely has a lasting effect upon the soul of another. There is no deep impression pressed upon the heart that leaves a person feeling wanted and loved. And sometimes being entertained can cause an individual to feel merely tolerated. But to be hospitable to a soul? To accommodate them by an action of love? That most assuredly will leave a lasting mark upon a soul’s life journey.

But in order for us to fully understand and comprehend this great power we must first offer a hospitable heart to the One who created it. Jesus does not desire for us to entertain Him, nor does He desire us to simply amuse him and tolerate His presence within us. Jesus greatly desires for us to make a place for Him by accommodating Him within our heart and soul. This is an action of love that is not content to simply stay within us but reach beyond us to others. Now is the time for us to stand upon the truth that each and every person who has the living spirit of God at work within them has the ability to be hospitable to others in one way or another.

To be hospitable to someone is to invite them into our inner mess. Nothing matches, the surroundings may be a little disheveled, and things can get a little dirty. But the person whom feels accommodated into the mess does not notice the mess. They only notice the action of love, the spirit of Jesus, and how it warms their very being to be invited in the first place.

Father, may you find a most hospitable place within my heart that was created just for you. Only you can fill it, only you can fulfill me. Help me to step out and offer a spirit of hospitality to another, inviting them into my mess. In Jesus name, amen.

 

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