Inside-Out Hospitality

Yay, it’s almost 2025!!! Are you excited? I love every New Year. It usually gives a sense of a new beginning. It is also a time to take stock of last year and make goals for the New Year. Even if most goals don’t make it through January (we will come back to this), it’s still a worthwhile activity. So I know weight loss and making/saving more money is probably topping your list (and mine) but how about a goal we may not have considered? One that could leave a lasting impact and change the world? How about making hospitality our priority in 2025?

We set goals in various areas of our lives, such as family, career and finances, physical health, and for us Christians, spiritual growth. As usual, I identified some obvious goals for the year: I plan to pray more, read my Bible more, and engage in fellowship, among other things. However, something still didn’t feel quite right. I sensed that God was leading me in a different direction, not to dismiss the other goals I had in mind. Then, one day while meditating, I came across this verse:

Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:13

That’s when it hit me that this is what I should focus on this year: practicing hospitality. I thought I already knew what hospitality meant but out of curiosity, I looked up the definition of hospitality.

Dictionary.com defines hospitality as “the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous ways, hosting events, etc. But God told me, no that is not hospitality (it’s a part of but not it), that is entertainment! This year I want you to have Christ-like hospitality, one that is not about you, one that comes from INSIDE-OUT!

I began researching hospitality and what it meant in the Bible. The Greek word (philoxenoi) for hospitality literally means “loving (philo) the stranger (xenia)”.

You see it is easy to be nice to people we know, or people we sure are able to reciprocate our kindness. But the Bible commends us to show love to our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22: 37). In Hebrews 13:2, we’re told, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Matthew 5: 46-47

It seems hard but there is hope if you are a child of God. God’s love has already been shed abroad in our hearts (Roms 5:5) and so the Christlike hospitality towards others will flow from Inside-Out naturally.

Hospitality is a core value that spans through the Bible. From the Old Testament with people like Father Abraham, the Shunammite woman, to Jesus and others in the New Testament. It goes beyond opening your doors and hosting people. It’s about creating spaces where others feel comfortable and loved, even in the smallest, everyday moments. It’s not a one-time act. It’s a lifestyle that you and I can adopt. Christ-like hospitality will make the world (and not just your waistline or pockets) a better place.

So, are you ready to start this journey? Stay on this blog for more tips on how to go about this. What are some of the goals you have planned for this year and what is your motivation? Share in the comment section. See you in 2025!