“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
There is a call for us to first host each other and in doing that discover that we can host God and His glory too.
How can we expect to host Him when we don’t host each other.
“O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.”
His desire is to unravel our hearts to a capacity to receive new levels of love for one another.
We are as valuable to Him as the varying clay vessels were to life in the early centuries.
Created Pots arose out of shapeless, formless, useless slabs of clay.
Made for specific purposes essential to survival and sustainability not just as decorative artefacts of today.
When the potter failed to get it exactly right he bashed it down and reformed it out of the spoiled piece, time and again, until it was perfected.
“And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.”
This is His way not to give up on what is spoiled in individuals nations, cultures.
He reforms and perfects. It doesn’t matter how spoiled it gets it is useable and can be perfected.
He absorbs our failures into Himself.
God can heal our past traumas, present pains and future anxieties. He will not pass us by.
Just as in the Bible, Bartimaeus was a blind beggar sitting by the roadside, who garnered Jesus’s attention.
“And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.”
The tables feel turned and it feels that God is calling out to us not to pass Him by.
There is freedom and liberation in attaching our gaze upon Him.
Relational and social atmospheres change daily.
To form new depths of family requires transition from just connection to relational. From community to family.
Love is the essential ingredient of belonging to one another. We are already well accustomed and attuned to how others affect us. It is a new concept when we consider how we affect others. We matter to others as much as they matter to us.
We fully belong and become More in His image as we radically open our hospitality. It is the strategy modelled by Jesus throughout the full gospel of Luke. He eats with, He feeds, He invites, He shares and hosts and His miraculous accompanies.
As we open our doors to each other God will open His and shower down His supernatural provision and multiplication.
Radical hospitality and radical welcome draw others to Him. By hosting each other we shall host His glory and breakthrough.
We become vessels of welcome when we see beyond ourselves.
The illustration shows family and hospitality modelled as Jesus key to hosting breakthrough and glory where light emanates to push back the darkness.
Four Scriptures that come to mind:
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Hebrews 13:2 ESV
“O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.” Psalm 26:8 ESV
“And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.” Jeremiah 18:4 ESV
“And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.” Mark 10:47, 52 ESV
The song Till I Found You. Phil Wickham
Lessisgreater 