Love In Action

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Hospitality

When I traveled to the middle east, the hospitality they showed one another astonished me. Loving your neighbor came before anything else. When we entered the home of one young man, he offered us tea, coffee and cookies.

Most nineteen-year-olds I know do not know how to show this kind of hospitality, so I asked him about his culture’s generosity. I mentioned how everyone had been so gracious. He said, “When you see your neighbor, you say hi and invite them in for coffee.” I asked what if you were heading out to go to an appointment and you see your neighbor? He said, “You miss the appointment. Your neighbor always comes first.”

My western mindset had a hard time grasping this. In his culture, the need of your neighbor always came above anything else. In Romans, Paul tells us to “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves” (Romans 12:12 NIV). This is exactly what I witnessed.

In Romans, Paul tells us to “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves” (Romans 12:12 NIV). #romans #sharingGodslove Share on X

My trip also involved meeting a friend. I did not mention my trip for safety reasons and connected with him once there. This hurt him because he could not extend the hospitality he felt he needed to extend. He should have taken me to meet his family, shown me around, and fed me. My not telling him I was coming did not allow him to practice his custom.

Jesus Send Out The Apostles

This week I went to the theater and saw the new episodes of The Chosen. One episode is based on Matthew 10, when Jesus sends out the apostles. This scene really challenged me. I had to ask myself, “Am I courageous enough to do what Jesus asked of them? To go out with no food, no change of clothes, nothing to defend myself and no money. All they had were their instructions: proclaim the message, ‘The kingdom of Heaven is near,’ heal the sick, raise the dead, and drive out demons.”

Every aspect of their instructions made them one hundred percent reliant on God. This calling is for us all. We may not have Jesus sitting in front of us, giving the instructions, but the Bible clearly tells us in Matthew 28:19 to go and make disciples of all nations.

Completely Reliant On God

To be honest, the fear that rose in me was not the latter part of the instructions, the to do list. My anxiety rose in to go with nothing. Can I be completely reliant on God to provide for my needs? As I wrote this post, and remembering the hospitality that stemmed from the culture of Jesus’ time, it would not have been a foreign concept for people to invite the apostles in for dinner and to give them a place to sleep.

This led me to thinking how far the western culture has fallen from this and how desperately we need it back. After my trip I often said, “If we added middle eastern hospitality to the Gospel, we would watch revival spread.”

As a kid, I loved being at my mom’s godparents’ house. They were like grandparents to me. Every afternoon, they had visitors. Either a neighbor stopped by or a friend. I got used to expecting company. Now we get home, drive into our garages, and shut the door. There is very little room for having contact with a neighbor, other than a brief wave.

The events of this week, the scripture reading, the movie, and holiday discussions have challenged me to break this trend. How can I/we do this? Let’s look further into Romans 12.

Here is a list of ways to show love in action.

1. Be sincere. (vs. 9)
2. Hate evil and cling to what is good. (vs. 9)
3. Devote yourself to others in love. (vs. 10)
4. Honor others above yourself. (vs. 10)
5. Do not lack zeal. (vs. 11)
6. Keep your spiritual fervor in serving the Lord. (vs. 11)
7. Be joyful in hope. (vs. 12)
8. Be patient in affliction. (vs. 12)
9. Be faithful in prayer. (vs. 12)
10. Share with the Lord’s people that are in need and practice hospitality. (vs. 13)
11. Bless those who persecute you and do not curse. (vs. 14)
12. Rejoice with those that rejoice. (vs. 15)
13. Mourn with those that mourn. (vs. 15)
14. Live in harmony with one another. (vs. 16)
15. Do not be proud or conceited. (vs. 16)
16. Be willing to associate with people in a lower position. (vs. 16)
17. Do not repay evil for evil. (vs. 17)
18. Do what is right. (vs. 17)

This is a lengthy list from a few short verses. I want to encourage you this week to pray and let God show you at least one thing from this list you could do to show love to someone else this week. I pray that as you do this, you will see the fruit of your actions and feel drawn to doing more of it. Let’s take Paul’s instructions and put them in action and see what God will do with it.

Elevated Faith