HOSPITALITY: A TEST OF FAITH -- Devotional for June 5, from "Good Seeds"

Be hospitable to one another. (I Peter 4:9)

What other word resembles the word hospitable? How about hospital? Of course we know hospitality speaks more of homes than hospitals, but it is instructive to see how much these two have in common:
It is both in a good home and in a good hospital where…
1)...you most want and need to be when you are sick.
2)...you most desire and enjoy visits from loved ones.
3)...you can expect someone always to be on hand and on call for the sake of your every need, and individual needs are given the utmost attention.
4)...the pantry is never bare, and everyone is provided the healthiest, if not always the tastiest, of nutritious food to eat.
5)...the “medicine cabinet” is well stocked with all necessary remedies for pain and illness.
6)...you go for the very best of rest and recuperation.
7)...cleanliness is emphasized, not just for outward appearance, but for the sake of inward health.
8)...The roof doesn’t leak, the building is sturdy, the plumbing and electrical are in good order.
9)...The doors are locked at night, and yet if someone desperately needs help at any time of the day or night, he can find entrance.
Now, you may be thinking that although these certainly are the things you can find and expect in a hospital (though you pay the big bucks to get them!), in most homes the resources, standards and expectations are much lower. That may be the reality, but must not be the norm, for the Christian. His guests should be treated with no less care or respect than what they’d receive in any hospital in the land. It should be a blessing and a joy to be so loved and accepted by a friend as to be thought of and treated like “family” – but only if family in that household are treated like royal guests! It is sadly true that “familiarity breeds contempt,” which comes soon enough when you live with someone day in and day out, for weeks and months and years. And so, as Peter was admonishing the church to “be hospitable to one another,” he was really saying they must treat those closest to them as if they were strangers who had just arrived at their door cold and hungry and tired – in the middle of the night! Hospitality is an art form that was highly perfected in Bible days, but seems to have fallen on hard times today. Maybe we will take it more seriously when we realize it is a telling indicator not only of the health of our home, but also of the authenticity of our faith!