Hospitality

 

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. - Hebrews 13:2

 

We don’t think of the virtue of hospitality as being something ‘spiritual’ very often. Yet, here it is listed in the Life of Faith chapter and it is also listed as one of the gifts of the spirit.

 

When you think about hospitality though you can see why this is such an important virtue. It is not easy to open your home up for all the world to see. It requires a sacrifice of privacy and a sharing of our homes and goods and possessions. We always risk the chance that something might happen to our stuff. We may feel like we have to change our behaviour. We may not feel like we can really relax when someone is in our home.

 

I’m not going to make it sound like it is a little thing. It is a lot to consider before we open our doors and our hearts and our lives

 

But hear we read that we need to be careful that we do entertain even strangers. This is even a greater challenge, and of course must be done with discretion and wisdom. God says that we need to look for chances to be hospitable to all, because we may just have the chance to entertain angels unawares.

 

Does that mean that somehow there are angels in our midst? It sure sounds like it, doesn’t it?  

 

I don’t know about all of that, but I do know that God expects us to open our hearts and our home to other, for who know who they might be?