Hospitality

1 Peter 4:9

New English Translation (NET)

⁹ Show hospitality to one another without complaining.

We lived in student housing in Iowa City while I was doing graduate work. The church had asked me to serve as an elder. This involved publishing our phone number under the church listing. Several times a year we would get a call from a stranger passing through asking for some kind of accommodation.

Once there was a self-supporting missionary couple to the Far East who phoned. They had spent several years serving there (I don’t remember the country). We put them up over night on their way from back east to California where they would fly across the Pacific. They were driving an old beat-up car and pulling a trailer.

They felt blest for the results they were seeing in their work. I do remember the deep faith and spirituality this couple had. Their stories of how God had answered their prayers of faith renewed our faith and love for the Lord. They also expressed a deep gratitude that they could stay with us. About two years later they came through again with more stories of rewarded faith and thanksgiving.

Of course not every experience was as positive. My brother was visiting once when a call for a room and meal came through. A man arrived and sat down for dinner with us. He was so big he needed two chairs to support his weight. Then he asked to take a nap, and we showed him to a bed in my brother’s room. When he woke up after the nap, he seemed in a great hurry to leave and wouldn’t be spending the night. After this man left, my brother discovered $80 missing from his wallet. No wonder the visitor was in such a hurry to leave!

In all the years before or since that we invited others to our home, that was the only time I remember that someone actually took advantage of us.

Lord, renew in us a spirit of hospitality and love for one another.