Passionate Homemaking

For the pre­vi­ous posts in this series, visit here.

The third reason we are aiming to live a simple lifestyle is in order to main­tain a hos­pitable home. I want our home to be a place of refuge to those whom God calls us to serve, whether it be neigh­bors, incor­po­rat­ing new fam­i­lies from the church or strength­en­ing old rela­tion­ships. Hos­pi­tal­ity is a command!

After dis­cussing that every member has a gift to con­tribute to the well-​being of the entire body, Paul com­mands that we be devoted to one another, serv­ing in the Lord, “contributing to the needs of the saints, prac­tic­ing hospitality” (Rom. 12:13). And in 1 Peter 4:9, “Be hos­pitable to one another with­out complaint.”

Am I making a reg­u­lar habit of wel­com­ing others into my home? It seems like fel­low­ship at church and just bump­ing into the neigh­bors can be some­what lim­it­ing at times, so having people into my home can serve to lead in much more lengthy and edi­fy­ing con­ver­sa­tions. Hos­pi­tal­ity is such a bless­ing and gift to others. Enjoy­ing a warm meal together is not that common any­more in our day and age. In the last 25 years, having friends over to your home is down 45 per­cent (accord­ing to Har­vard pro­fes­sor Robert Putnam). Let’s change the tide and seek to bless others! It doesn’t have to be com­pli­cated. The fact that you extended an invi­ta­tion is a bless­ing enough. Don’t limit your­self because you might not have the gift, or be able to cre­ative amaz­ing meals, or have a per­fectly clean home. God will bless your efforts if you seek to be used of Him to min­is­ter from your home.

Giving my best to bless others

In light of this, I per­son­ally have come under con­vic­tion in the past few months that I need to serve my best and the high­est qual­ity pos­si­ble when serv­ing my guests. I want to con­sider their health as well! I believe if I just serve them second rate qual­ity because it is cheaper, than I am not serv­ing them sac­ri­fi­cially. I have strug­gled with being a cheap stake, and not desir­ing to serve my organic food, because it was more expen­sive and I wanted to keep it for myself. My motives have been self­ish and impure. I have real­ized that God truly blesses me when I give my best! It is a sac­ri­fice, but is releases my grasp upon the things of this world, and draws my atten­tion more to serv­ing and edi­fy­ing others. This is not to say that you have to buy organic food for your guests…but what­ever eating lifestyle you main­tain, give your best! Don’t skimp and hold the best for your­selves. Making a hos­pi­tal­ity budget helps sig­nif­i­cantly in this area!

This is another reason why we are choos­ing a simple lifestyle…in order to give our best, not just in food, but also in lead­ing in Godly, edi­fy­ing con­ver­sa­tion and prayer together!

Resources and previous posts on this topic:

Grow­ing Together in Christ: Hospitality

Hos­pi­tal­ity Tips

The Per­sonal Touch: Encour­ag­ing Other through Hos­pi­tal­ity by Rachael Crabb - an excel­lent book on the topic!

Face to Face: Medi­a­tions on Friend­ship and Hos­pi­tal­ity by Steve Wilkins

Here is an excel­lent sermon by Marc Driscoll from Mars Hill Church on the topic of hospitality:

Holy Hos­pi­tal­ity sermon