Changing times have had an effect on hospitality in our lives. People keep to themselves a lot, work long hours, and often cringe at just the thought of saying hello to a neighbor. Can you recall the last time you asked someone to join you in your home for dinner, for dessert, or to enjoy each other’s company?

If we keep relationships at the surface and know fewer people well, we miss out. There are opportunities for us to bless and be blessed when we invite people into our homes. The writer of Hebrews wrote to encourage early Christians to practice hospitality and may have been thinking of the story we find in Genesis 18. That account tells of when Abraham invited three strangers into his home to rest and be refreshed. He was unaware at the time that he was, indeed, entertaining among the visitors the pre-incarnate Lord Himself!

Show hospitality to someone. Do so expecting nothing in return, but be assured that a good measure will be given to you, “pressed down, shaken together and running over” (Luke 6:38).