It’s holiday season, which means it’s also hospitality season. It’s in the summer that so many people travel and in the summer that so many of us find friends or relatives dropping by for a day or for a week. As this summer began, I realized I would be both host and hosted in the weeks ahead and found myself pondering one half of one of the Bible’s commands.
It has always been interesting to me that among the attributes that qualify a man to be an elder is hospitality. This strikes me as a bit unnecessary, a bit off-topic, a bit niche perhaps. What does hospitality have to do with pastoring? Yet there’s no doubt it must have some bearing since both 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 insist that an elder must be hospitable. Here’s how Alexander Strauch explains it: “Hospitality is a concrete expression of Christian love and family life. Giving oneself to the care of God’s people means sharing one’s life and home with others. An open home is a sign of an open heart and a loving, sacrificial, serving spirit. A lack of hospitality is a sure sign of selfish, lifeless, loveless Christianity.”
Fair enough, then. Hospitality is a matter of qualification for elders and a matter of obedience for all Christians (since those elder qualifications are merely attributes that all Christians are meant to display). An open home is proof of our love for others and evidence of our generosity.
But even then, the Bible does not stop at mandating hospitality; it also speaks to the attitude behind it. Peter adds an intriguing element to the equation when he commands us to “show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” It’s not enough for Christians to simply open their homes and offer others a place to stay. No, they must do this with an attitude of joy rather than anger and a spirit of eagerness rather than complaint.
Hospitality, then, is not just a box to tick, but an opportunity to give an outward display of the inner man—an inner man that is kind and generous and is both content and eager to share what has been given by God. Hospitality is not sharing what we have or what we own, but sharing what God has graciously given to us as a matter of stewardship. Like so much in the Christian life, it is a matter of the heart before it is a matter of the hands.
I have long since observed that one of the big questions that governs the Christian life is this: Do you want to deal with your heart in the moment, or do you want to sin and circle back? In other words, do you want to do things God’s way and enjoy the blessing that comes with it, or do you want to do it complainingly and sinfully, then regret it and repent later on? Too often we can allow ourselves the leeway to do something the wrong way and only consider our attitude in the aftermath.
But when it comes to hospitality, the command is clear: “show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” It’s before your guests arrive, it’s as they move in, it’s while they depart that you have the opportunity to rejoice instead of grumble, to give generously instead of frugally. It’s as your home fills with friends or strangers that you can prove to them, to yourself, and to the Lord, that your Christianity is neither selfish, nor lifeless, nor loveless. It’s in these moments that you have the privilege of extending to others the hospitality that God has so graciously extended to you.
