Text: Luke 10:38-42, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Matthew 6:33, Luke 10:27
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.”
– Luke 10:41-42a
You know how our words are just an overflow of our heart? (See Luke 6:45.) Well, my heart has a dark patch that the Holy Spirit is working on, and it still shows up on my lips when I’m not wise enough to keep quiet.
This happened once when I was with friends who planned to introduce me to a friend of theirs whom I did not want to meet. I had decided I didn’t like her theology or the way she used her words. I had written her off and wanted nothing to do with her. When my friends told me this person would not be able to come over after all, my response was, “I’m so glad she’s not coming. I don’t want to meet her anyway.”
Ouch! Talk about uncharitable!
After hearing myself utter such unloving words, and after being convicted about them, I knew I needed a refresher course in love.
Because it doesn’t matter if I don’t like her theology or the way she uses her words, does it? She is a person made in the image of God, and I am called to love her. I am called to believe the best about her, to act in a becoming way, to be for her, to hope for her, to pray for her, and to believe that love will never fail.
Before I can love anyone, I need to prepare my heart. And to do that, I need to sit myself down with Jesus and listen to Him for a while.
“…Mary, who seated herself at the Lord’s feet and was listening to His teaching.”
– Luke 10:39
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
– Luke 10:27
I need to let His love permeate me. As that happens, peace comes in and I am able to trust Him with all things, even the people I don’t agree with. In fact, when I trust Him, I can love others. And when I am able to love, I am able to be hospitable.
Hospitality isn’t about a home or a physical table or food, or any of that. Hospitality is about love. It’s about loving other people; the rest is just trappings.
We can make a table for people to gather, but that alone doesn’t reflect love. Look at Martha, that beloved friend of Jesus who was so distracted with serving and being irritated with her sister and with God Himself that she missed it. She missed the point of it all. We serve, we work, we make a table in order to gather and to listen and to enter into relationship.
The point is the person, not the particulars.
And the person or people, what we all need is love.
Love… is patient, kind, not jealous, doesn’t brag, isn’t arrogant, doesn’t act unbecomingly, doesn’t seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. It never fails. (from 1 Corinthians 13)
Before we prepare a table, let’s ready our hearts to do a very scary thing: trust God unwaveringly with others so that we may be free to love them with a pure heart.
Sarah Mae is an influential Christian blogger, conference cohost, and author with a drive to inspire women to hold fast to Jesus and to live by faith. Her bestselling book, Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe, has given women everywhere the permission to be honest about the exhausting little years of motherhood. She celebrates life with her husband and three children in the beautiful Amish countryside of Pennsylvania where she often ponders what life would be like if she actually finished all the laundry.
its so hard to welcome when we have been hurt or when we are opening ourselves to uncomfortable situations, what a reminder to keep an open heart, and fill it with HIS love first to pour out on others. Amen!
I struggle to love my coworkers. ..this is a challenging reminder.
I can definitely relate to that!
A couple of days ago I listened to a talk by a former lesbian about her journey in becoming a Christian. One of the things that most struck me about her journey was that she met a pastor who became her friend. He and his wife would have her over regularly for dinner and conversation and she said that she was amazed that he broke the two ‘rules’ of Christian hospitality: they didn’t overtly share the Gospel with her and the didn’t invite her to church. What they DID do was love her and talk to her about her questions and assumptions. They shared meals and enjoyed each other’s company. They promoted a safe, comfortable forum for open communication between to very different value sets and lifestyles.
It reminded me of all these devotionals. That is what hospitality is. A safe place for people to be heard and be extravagantly loved against all societal preconceptions.
Thank you for this, Sarah Mae! "Before we prepare table, let's ready our hearts"… This is so needed, so true! How often do I turn hospitality into a list of things I need to prepare in the home while neglecting the most important aspect of having someone into my home–sharing my heart!
Really kind and true. Great lines and great site oficial ! Thank you for reminding me to let love lead.
My struggle isn't so much with the "particulars" – it is with trust. The struggle with trusting God directly affects my ability to love freely. I long to soak up God's Love & to trust Him completely, but I am stuck. Please pray that God can reach my heart in this area. I'm so weary…
I truly had a revelation here this morning. Just think Jesus was in Martha’s home. Jesus is in our homes. He is here with us. Do we ignore him? Do we sit at His feet?
Like Martha we can easily get distracted by what we have to get done and forget to focus on that one thing that is needed, time with Jesus. Martha had opened her home and closed her heart. Do we do that?Growing up I remember how frustrated and anxious my mom would get when we had guests arriving. She had 7 children and we could not have made it easy. I loved it when she would let me help and getting the China out was a joy for me. My older sister and I would throw dinner parties for our siblings whenever my parents had a night away. She would cook and I would set the scene. I still love to entertain and it can be a lot of work but I approach the preparations prayerfully, wanting my guests to feel special and loved. I try to have most everything done before they arrive so we can relax and enjoy each other. Hospitality is indeed opening your heart not just your home and putting the people BEFORE the preparations. Entertains is not enjoyable for anyone if you do it with the wrong heart. I hope this doesn’t deter people who love details and entertaining from truly enjoying practicing hospitality in that way.
Sit at Jesus feet awhile, then get up and open your heart and home to those He brings, friends, strangers, family, etc. Your style of entertains is a reflection of your tastes but your heart of hospitality is a representation of Jesus in you.
perfect to read this morning as I prepare for my sister’s bridal shower this afternoon. God, help to to love those attending. Speak your truth and to enjoy the moments celebrating my sister & her marriage. amen