Friday, March 27, 2015

Being the Church

Biblical Hospitality 

I should open this by telling you that this post is the result of a situation that touched me. But I'm going to speak it clearly, this post is the result of me being ticked off  by religion. 

Not spirituality but religion. Let me give you the definition of religion I am referring too... 
     " a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance."

Religious practices can be important for us, but it does not hold supreme importance. God holds supreme importance. 

What I have seen many times and saw again today, is that we as a church can get so wrapped up in religious practices, we forget to obey the living word of God. We have conformed to worldly standards and thrown obedience out the window.

How do you and your church react to strangers/ guests? Yep, that is where I am going with this. We have our congregation  and we fellowship, have fun, sing, learn, and then return to our homes. 

What happens when someone interrupts our expectations of a special event running smoothly and we have to be burdened with the inconvenience of tending to a guest? Burden, why did I just use that word? Because that is the reaction I see and it isn't what we are called to practice. We are called to practice biblical hospitality. 

Let me hand you some verses. 

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. (1 Peter 4:9 ESV)


You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:34 ESV)

He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:12-14 ESV)



Is being comfortable and enjoying an evening of fellowship without an glitches more important that a precious opportunity to witness and plant seeds into a person who is unchurched and desperately seeking Christ? No, we are missing the whole point of being the church if it is.

My heart was heavenly burdened with this when I recently witnessed it.  What I am asking is for you to search your heart. Where is it at? Are you allowing yourself to be interruptible so that you can be available if someone needing salvation is put in your path? Take some time, process that question and allow yourself to become full available. God wants to use you! 

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. (Hebrews 13:2 ESV)

A grateful believe in Jesus Christ 
~Johnna 



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