If you have a perfect home with God, then you can afford to have this home bashed around a bit, the wall paper written on, something stolen, your peace and quiet disturbed. Your home belongs to Jesus and his home belongs to you. It’s an unfair exchange, because yours is going to last for a few centuries at the most, his will last for ever.
So, here’s what Country Life, Home and Garden, and TV makeover shows won’t tell you.
Offer hospitality. Opening your doors to people and allowing them in can be a humbling experience if you don’t have much. Likewise, if you have a lot, it can be humbling for the people who come in. Either way, get over it! Nothing builds friendship quite like sitting in someone’s house and talking about each others lives. It shows acceptance and appreciation. The people who Jesus ate with and spent time with must have felt honoured that he would come into their houses. Conversely, the religious leaders ridiculed him and were offended by accepting hospitality from the lowly and the “bad”.
When offering hospitality or accepting hospitality, don’t think entertainment. Entertainment requires time and effort, has to be arranged beforehand and usually leads to people being stressed and frustrated before, during and after whatever meeting is taking place. No. Hospitality is about being open. It doesn’t matter what state the kitchen is in, you still invite your friend round for tea because you want to know how they are. Don’t hide your life under the carpet, let people see it in all its madness and show them how you’re living for Jesus in it. Hey, get them involved (especially if they’re students) in helping you clean, in dressing the kids, in doing the gardening and talk to them while you’re doing it.
So, have people round for tea and coffee or the national equivalent, cook meals or buy take away if you’re rubbish at cooking.
Host parties where lots of people can meet together from all walks of life.
Have people to stay overnight who are visiting friends or travelling between cities or attending a conference in your area.
Look after someone else’s children for a day or a weekend.
Give a room to a homeless person.
Adopt children – it’s ultimately what God has done for us. To the world it might look foolish, or it might look noble for a while. But there aren’t many things that reflect God’s love than adopting children and saying, “We love you and we will love you. We are your parents and you are our child”, no matter what baggage might come with that or what might happen in the future. Helping out a children’s home is good, but adopting children is gospel.
Buy another one! Sorry? Yes. Can you mortgage the first, therefore freeing up cash to buy another house in which another family can live or some people with a lower income? Can you allow others to have a home that wouldn’t otherwise because of their financial situation (and perhaps have difficulties with benefits because of crime, not being nationals, etc)?
Sell it. Can you downsize? Do you need to live in whatever size house you live in? Is it good stewardship? Or would it be better to live in smaller home and allow some of the money tied up in the bricks to be used elsewhere?
Don’t build a castle where you keep people out, celebrate your own achievements, watch trashy TV and try to ignore the world that’s going on around you.
Build a home. It might well be messy but it might well lead to people feeling loved, to finding friends and family and to talking about Jesus and knowing about the perfect home waiting for them.
Open your doors!
So, here’s what Country Life, Home and Garden, and TV makeover shows won’t tell you.
Offer hospitality. Opening your doors to people and allowing them in can be a humbling experience if you don’t have much. Likewise, if you have a lot, it can be humbling for the people who come in. Either way, get over it! Nothing builds friendship quite like sitting in someone’s house and talking about each others lives. It shows acceptance and appreciation. The people who Jesus ate with and spent time with must have felt honoured that he would come into their houses. Conversely, the religious leaders ridiculed him and were offended by accepting hospitality from the lowly and the “bad”.
When offering hospitality or accepting hospitality, don’t think entertainment. Entertainment requires time and effort, has to be arranged beforehand and usually leads to people being stressed and frustrated before, during and after whatever meeting is taking place. No. Hospitality is about being open. It doesn’t matter what state the kitchen is in, you still invite your friend round for tea because you want to know how they are. Don’t hide your life under the carpet, let people see it in all its madness and show them how you’re living for Jesus in it. Hey, get them involved (especially if they’re students) in helping you clean, in dressing the kids, in doing the gardening and talk to them while you’re doing it.
So, have people round for tea and coffee or the national equivalent, cook meals or buy take away if you’re rubbish at cooking.
Host parties where lots of people can meet together from all walks of life.
Have people to stay overnight who are visiting friends or travelling between cities or attending a conference in your area.
Look after someone else’s children for a day or a weekend.
Give a room to a homeless person.
Adopt children – it’s ultimately what God has done for us. To the world it might look foolish, or it might look noble for a while. But there aren’t many things that reflect God’s love than adopting children and saying, “We love you and we will love you. We are your parents and you are our child”, no matter what baggage might come with that or what might happen in the future. Helping out a children’s home is good, but adopting children is gospel.
Buy another one! Sorry? Yes. Can you mortgage the first, therefore freeing up cash to buy another house in which another family can live or some people with a lower income? Can you allow others to have a home that wouldn’t otherwise because of their financial situation (and perhaps have difficulties with benefits because of crime, not being nationals, etc)?
Sell it. Can you downsize? Do you need to live in whatever size house you live in? Is it good stewardship? Or would it be better to live in smaller home and allow some of the money tied up in the bricks to be used elsewhere?
Don’t build a castle where you keep people out, celebrate your own achievements, watch trashy TV and try to ignore the world that’s going on around you.
Build a home. It might well be messy but it might well lead to people feeling loved, to finding friends and family and to talking about Jesus and knowing about the perfect home waiting for them.
Open your doors!
2 comments:
me and my housemates are trying to open our house a bit more this year.
i've invited a bunch of korean students to come over next sat so we can cook korean food together! :) hope it works out well and relationships will be built up! really miss having folks over, working on it... very good post. :) thanks!
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