In 1 Peter 4, the apostle is encouraging his readers to be prayerful and loving. As a part of this he shares a word about hospitality: “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling” (verse 9).
When we think about the word hospitality, we often think of the “hospitality industry.” That’s not unrelated, but it’s not really what Peter is talking about.
The Thayer lexicon says that this Greek word is about being “hospitable” and “generous to guests.”
I recently came across a statement by Donald Coggan, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. He said: “True Christian hospitality is making people feel at home, when you wish they were at home.”*
When I first read that, I literally stopped and chuckled!
Some people seem to have a gift of hospitality. It comes naturally to them. They seem to be extroverted and experience a particular level of joy when others are made to feel at home in their midst. For others, it’s less natural.
Either way, making people feel at home is a sign of God’s grace. It can happen in your home or apartment. But it’s not limited to location. Hospitality can be about listening to someone so that they feel heard, about simply being with them in an unpressured way so that they can rest, or even about helping with someone’s practical needs when they are in a situation which is clearly out of their comfort zone.
All of these ideas are things we can do—without grumbling—because God has been hospitable to us, and because we want to share his goodness with others.
Notes:
-*Quoted in: Norman Hillyer, 1 & 2 Peter, Jude—Understanding The Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1992), 126.
-Bible quotes are from the ESV.
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