Hospitality Hospital Church
Acts 16:15
When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
The word hospitality is a relative to the word hospital. Rarely do we put those two words together in our culture because the mental images they generate are so different. But a hospital is a place away from your home that is designated to bring healing and wholeness. Hospitality is not about a vacation, but about allowing your home and your presence to bring emotional, mental, and spiritual healing to others.
Lydia’s first act as a new beliver was to invite Paul and Silas to her home where they could stay and find a place of rest and fellowship. This was not a one time act of kindness, it was an open invitatation.
Her home was a statement of her wealth and success, and then it became a mission outpost for traveling missionaries. Lydia was using her gifts and possessions to start the church in Philippi. It became a place that brought encouragment and times of healing to many.
Paul was using his gifts and abilities to encourage, teach and build the church spiritually. They were working together, each with their gifts and abilities, a great picture of what the church should look like.
Their example can raise some questions for us.
- Are our homes a secluded fortress or a haven for hurting souls?
- Are we using our gifts and abilities to do what we can, where we are?
- Are we willing to open our hearts and all that we have to be a servant for God?
Be Intentional about opening your home and heart for God’s purposes.
Praises & Prayers
Father, I thank you for the generous provisions in our lives. Help us to use them for Your purposes. Help us to offer hospitality in any way that is needed and to be a place where others find encouragement, love and acceptance. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Messages from His Word
1 Peter 4:9-10
Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.