Hospitality: Preparing your heart for guests

Welcoming guests and showing hospitality is revealing the heart of your home, you. 🙂 Preparing your heart for guests is key to biblical hospitality.

For years, opening my home meant being frazzled to have everything “perfect” before our guests arrived. It left me unenergized, constantly cooking, cleaning and missing out on the heart of hospitality, (which the Lord revealed to me). You can read more about it here: Pursuing Hospitality

Hospitality is welcoming others into your home, expectedly or unexpectedly. Allowing others to “come as they are” and greeting them through genuine love and generosity. You know the old saying “Mi Casa Su Casa”.

Hospitality is preparing your heart for family, friends and even strangers. The Word of God points us to serving others and being hospitable. Remember, Jesus did not come to be served but to serve – and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Let’s look at a few scriptures that back this up:

“But through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:31

“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.”

Hebrews 13:2

“When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.”

Romans 12:13

Preparing your Heart for Guests

For me, it starts in the Scriptures. The Word of God calls His people to be hospitable. We are called to serve others through love with joy in our hearts. And we should be concerned with what the Lord is calling His people to. The first thing I say when someone comes in our home is “please, make yourself at home”. That phrase sets the tone for how I want them to feel.

Have you ever been in someone’s home and felt like a hinderance? Likewise, have you ever been in someone’s home who made you feel like you were part of the family? The difference in these two scenarios is the posture of the heart.

I like to remember The Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” Matthew 7:12

As humans, we long to be seen, heard & loved. When our heart is intentionally postured towards hospitality, our guests will feel welcomed & loved. But if you’re annoyed by their presence or worried about the cost of feeding them, then they will feel such.

Hospitality is biblical and as followers of Christ, we bring honor to the Lord in practicing hospitality. I want to encourage you to be intentional when guests are in your home. Have a family meeting and pray over this very topic. Ask the Lord to give you a heart ready and willing to serve others through hospitality.

A wise woman once said, “I am the house, I am the hospitality. I’m going to welcome you as you are and give you me as I am.” Remember, your guests are coming to connect with you! Don’t allow yourself to feel regret for being too focused on what doesn’t matter. Instead, show up, with your heart on a platter, ready to listen, love & serve.

Preparing your Home for Guests

The biggest misconception in opening your home is that our homes have to be spotless and organized. We don’t have to pretend that we have it all together. I thrive on organization; so when my home is out of whack, quite frankly, so am I. So for me, part of achieving biblical hospitality is throwing perfection out the door.

Also, if upon your guests arrival, you don’t have a red carpet entry, a glass of wine in hand along with top notch horderves ready to be served, that’s OKAY. In complete transparency, I love hosting, entertaining and serving others in this way! And there’s nothing wrong with that, so long as our hearts are in the right place.

And to help ease this side of my personality, I pre-plan snacks, meals, outings and even sleeping arrangements. Pre-planning makes for a smoother visit because I can relax and feel more present rather than feeling like I have things to do.

But aside from hosting guests, seek opportunities to be hospitable in the every day. It could look like seeing a need and being proactive to step up and offer assistance. Randomly inviting a neighbor over for tea and conversation. Offering to babysit the kids of an overwhelmed mom. Inviting a new family from church over each Sunday following service for lunch. These are just a few of the many opportunities we have in our every day lives.