The Heart of Hospitality

Hospitality isn't about having a Pinterest-perfect home or serving fancy gourmet meals. It's about opening your life to others.

The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:9 "Use hospitality one to another without grudging". That word "grudging" matters because God cares about the heart behind the hospitality.

The word 'hospitality' shares its root with 'hospital'—a place of healing and care. Genuine hospitality offers a refuge where people tend hearts, share burdens, and find rest for their souls. When Christians practice biblical hospitality, they're providing a space for meaningful conversations, fellowship and help in the broken world in which we live.

Some of the sweetest fellowship I've ever experienced happened around simple meals—paper plates, store-bought food, nothing fancy at all. But there was the love of the saints (Colossians 1:4). There was genuine care. (2 Corinthians 11:28). There was a desire to encourage one another to serve the Lord. (2 Chronicles 35:2).

Your home doesn't have to be spotless. Your cooking doesn't have to be impressive. The question is: are you willing to share your life and your time with other believers?

The heart of hospitality is discipleship—and sometimes it is with food, but not always. Breaking bread together is a biblical and beautiful was to be hospitable. However, you don't have to limit hospitality to your kitchen. It can just as easily be your living room when someone needs a place to talk, to get help, or to belong. Hospitality is opening up your home to the single mom who needs a quiet place to decompress while you watch her kids. It's the couple going through a rough patch who needs a set of listening ears. Hospitality is allowing that new believer who needs to see what a Christian home actually looks like in real life, on a Tuesday night, mess and all.

Sometimes the most hospitable thing you can offer is your time and your home – and no food is required.

Open your door. Open your heart. That's what hospitality is.