Hospitality, By Chris Schultz

Chris Schultz shows of his Hospitality skills with this Thanksgiving Turkey.

What are you allowing to feed you?

“Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis Chevalier de Jancourt describes hospitality in the Encyclopedia as the virtue of a great soul that cares for the whole universe through the ties of humanity. Hospitality is also the way people treat others, that is the service of welcoming receiving guests for example in hotels.

“Hospitality is something that is near and dear to my heart. There is so much power in creating a relationship with someone through hospitality. I find great satisfaction in having people in my home. Whenever I have a spiritual conversation with someone, I try to feed them first. Jesus often met the physical needs of people by first feeding them. He fed 5,000 before preaching to them. He was acutely aware of his surroundings and those that followed him. Something I can certainly imitate!

The Hospitality of Jesus

Matt 14:13-21
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” 17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were leftover.21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Hospitality for the Holidays

I am humbled that Jesus saw needs wherever he went. When I think of hospitality, I often think of feeding someone food, having a safe and welcoming home, and a serving mindset. But it is so much more. This is such a small component of it. Jesus met the needs of the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-26) at the well. She was looking for something, but Jesus knew her spiritual needs. I can take comfort in what I believe my needs are sometimes, especially during the holidays such as my hobbies, my children, my wife, my finances, or my relationships. However, I am learning that these things while not evil or inherently bad, do not meet my needs. In other words, they don’t feed me. I NEED to be fed by Jesus.

He is the only subsistence that will fill my soul. All of those holes that I feel can only be filled by my savior and master. I am inspired often by how my wife feeds her soul. She often will get up while it is still very early to watch the sunrise and spend time with her father. As much as I want to fulfill her spiritually and emotionally, she understands that only a close relationship with her Dad can fulfill this. During the holidays, I want to reflect on how to be properly fed, to be nourished by the things that will truly satisfy me.

Questions I want to ask myself during my times with God:

• 1. How do I connect with God’s word? How do I apply it? Maybe write down my thoughts in a journal and share them with others?
  2. How am I connecting with God through my prayers with him? Maybe pray with others to get closer to them so they can hear my heart
  3. Ask others what I can pray for them for, and ask them to pray for me. (including my children)
  4. Connect with God by being in his creation, his nature.
  5. Ask for accountability, I’m not going to change if I don’t have to follow up about what I need to repent of.

This “Holiday Quiet Times” series was written for the month of December 2020. Brothers and sisters from the Phoenix and Tucson churches contributed these various daily devotionals. You can download the PDF packet here: “2020 Holiday Quiet Times.“