Life Lesson: Hospitable

Be hospitable to one another without murmuring, (1 Peter 4:9, RecVer)

The Lord has been shepherding me these days and training me to be hospitable in taking care of the saints. This is one lesson in life that needs to be learned in humanity. The apostle Paul in his writing mentioned being hospitable as one of the characteristics of an overseer or learning to oversee as a shepherd of God’s flock. This requires sacrifices and paying the price in shepherding the saints. Thank the Lord that He has been gracing me to learn this lesson gradually. 

Last Saturday, Lord’s Day, and Monday evening, three evenings in a row, I had the privilege of accompanying the saints for a time of lovefeast. In all these cases, I was supposed to attend to something of my personal needs but I was forced to deny my own plan and follow the saints to accompany them for fellowship and learn to be hospitable. Initially, my inward being was a definite no to the proposals for dinning out as I had some matters at hand to accomplish. But as the saints fellowshipped with me and invited me, I simply gave up my feeling, plan, and paid the price to follow the the saints. I took the Lord’s grace to go against my own interest and blent with the saints.

The first invitation was from two brothers one of whom wanted to give a treat to the children and his host's family. At the last minute, I was invited along. For the sake of the brothers' feeling and and also for my children's sake who were invited, I joined along. This gave me the opportunity to fellowship with a visiting brother and share my testimony too. In addition to the rich food, we had a sweet spiritual fellowship and brotherly time together.

The second invitation was by a brother with whom I have been in fellowship, shepherding him in his marital issues. Since the time he faced a crisis, he has neen confiding to me personally about his deep personal matters. As I felt led by the Lord, I fellowshipped with him his need to establish and strengthen his personal relationship with the Lord. In fact, I had the freedom to tell him that the Lord allowed his circumstances to wake him up, revive him, and recover him back to Himself. I even had the assurance to declare by faith that once his personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is restored, all the "problems" will be solved. We also prayed together and this encouraged him so much so that he proposed for a dinner lovefeast. I had no choice but to comply to it. So, we enjoyed a wonderful time of cherishing one another over a meal; his family, a brother, and myself.

The third invitation was from a family who came to visit India and has been in fellowship with my wife. Initially, I had no intention to accept the invitation as I was busy with some important official works. But later, I realised I should not reject the invitation. So, I still finished my works and joined them later. Though late, I did not miss it. It was a time of cherishing for the family.

These are three incidents that transpired recently. The Lord used these to train and perfect me, especially in learning how to be hospitable, accommodating, pliable, and willing to sacrifice my own schedule in order to meet others' need. In serving the Lord, I am not my own. The Lord’s will and His arrangement I have to follow. And I am learning to adjust to whatever the circumstances are, for the sake of shepherding.

May the gracious Lord continue to grace me to learn to be hospitable and shepherd the saints who the Lord brings to me.