Love
Read 1 Peter 4:7-11.
7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Yesterday we talked about how we can imitate the love of Jesus through prayer. Today we’ll look at a second way to do this—by practicing hospitality. What do you associate with that word? The hospitality committee at your church—always prepared with donuts and coffee? Maybe that person whose house is immaculate, who seems to always have fresh cookies on the table, and who is ready to host any one at any time. These are examples of hospitality, but they are not the only ways to demonstrate biblical hospitality.
Biblical hospitality is presence. We see examples of this type of hospitality throughout the Bible. Starting in Genesis, God is hospitable as He creates a garden for His people, full of everything they needed, including His presence. Then we see the tabernacle—a place for Him to dwell in the midst of His people. We see it in the temple in Jerusalem, which is flooded with His presence. And during Advent, we’re reminded of His hospitality—His presence—as He put on flesh to dwell among us. And when He left the earth, He did not leave us without Himself. Instead, He gave us the Spirit of God, who now dwells inside of us, forever.
Since we have received this type of hospitality, we now extend it to those around us. We ought to fill our dinner tables with those who do not yet know Him, ministering to those who are lost or broken, not most often with our words but with our presence. Our lives, as believers, should be marked by relationships that call us out of our comfort and into biblical presence and hospitality—a form of ministry we can only pour out because we have first received it.
Consider who among you may be in desperate need of this ministry of presence. Invite those people into your home or to sit with you and your friends at the lunch table. Or simply sit with someone in their joy or sorrow. Take the first steps toward loving others by welcoming others into the hospitality you have received through Christ Jesus.
[Matt Chandler (2021). (p. 53). Family Advent Devotional - Bible Study eBook. Lifeway Press. Retrieved from https://read.lifeway.com]