God invited you into His home, you invite Him into your home

Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Showing hospitality was a very important and expected social practice. The apostle Paul encouraged it in Rom. 12:13; 1 Tim. 5:10, and the apostle Peter wrote, “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling” in 1 Pet. 4:9. In the Middle Eastern setting, if one didn’t have a home in which to stay, their only other option was a hostel, which was often an environment of immorality and adultery. So traveling saints were dependent on members of the local church opening their homes. Hospitality also meant fellowship with members of the body of Christ around the meal table.  The example of Abraham welcoming three strangers into his tent and offering them food and fellowship comes to mind when we read about entertaining angels, doesn’t it? Abraham didn’t know who he was receiving, but we do. It was the Lord with two other messengers. Gen. 18:1-5. And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.”  If we stay in the context of verse 1 of chapter 13, we assume that hospitality is one expression of the love of Jesus for His body. This makes sense if we are showing our love out of gratitude for being placed into God’s kingdom of love. Those we host are also partakers of God’s kingdom and grace. To love them is to love Him. To serve them is to offer an acceptable sacrifice. Hospitality is a service. One has to expend the energy, time, and finances to have their home in such a state that it is available for His use at any time. That’s not easy. There’s a cost to hospitality, so we should look at the expenditure as a love gift to Jesus. If we don’t keep our homes neat and operational for hospitality, when the opportunity comes, which is usually spontaneous, we won’t be ready for it. We can also show hospitality by taking a visitor out to eat if our homes are not available.  Perhaps today, God may put a stranger in your path who is a brother or sister in Christ. The first thing you can do to show hospitality to a stranger is to have your heart open to receive everyone God puts in your path. Then as you love them with Jesus, you’ll find out best if and how you can meet practical needs through hospitality. Hospitality is just one aspect of living to love with Jesus and showing gratitude to God for His receiving you as a stranger into His home. When you practice hospitality to strangers who are in Christ, you are inviting Jesus into your home. I invite you to become a partner in our ministry. Would you pray about becoming a regular supporter of Elijah Ministries and the Live to Love with Jesus ministry? I hope you will receive the joy and benefit of “giving it forward,” so others may receive encouragement to turn their hearts to God and to live to love with Jesus. You may give online or send a check to the address listed at www.spiritofelijah.com/donate.