To Be Hospitable…we must Confess
It’s hard to love with hatred in your heart. And love is required to embody the many virtues of hospitality: welcome, generosity, kindness - to name a few.
Sure, one can show these things. They can welcome. They can still give generously. They can even be kind. But if they lack love, it means nothing. (1 Corinthians 13: 1-3)
We cannot love with hatred in our heart.
The word hate can sound so intense, so concrete. Most don’t want to consider themselves hateful people, and I believe that many of us do long to be people of love. But to be a person of love, I realize I must also be a person who confesses.
Hatred doesn’t form in a day, but rather through many moments. Moments when we allow a little bitterness here, a little resentment there. Through the cracks, discontentment, gossip, wrong assumptions and fear seep in. Soon we are surrounded; hatred has filled our home and love has been tossed out.
But there is a way to clean the house and bring love back in. The entirety of Scripture reveals a specific characteristic of Love: Love is relentless. We see this through the relationship between God and the Israelite people. Repeatedly they fail, God restores. They fail, God delivers. They fail, God redeems. They reject God over and over again, and His compassion remains and He still extends His love. And this isn’t limited to the people of Israel. It is true for all of humanity.
“For God loved the world in this way", the Word tells us in the Gospel of John. “He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, CSB) In Jesus, we see a love that pursues. And it pursues all of us.
Yes, Love keeps knocking. Praise God! Hatred may have taken residence, but it can be evicted.
But this does require, you, me, us, to move. To act. To clean the house of our heart. To be hospitable requires love, and to love , we cannot hate. But to not hate, we must be aware of even the smallest bits of pride, jealousy, envy, or coveting - all that can corrupt our minds and hearts leading us further and further away from love.
We must learn to sit with God, to seek the Spirit and ask “where is there bitterness in me? Where have I justified my anger? Where am I leaving room for hatred, suspicion, distrust to grow?”
In this humility, we can be made new (1 John 1:9) and we can be cleansed. Love will fill us once again. And then, we will be able to more wholly love others. We will be a people formed by Love, in Love so we can show Love to those around us. So repent. Confess. Be curious about what is in you. Ask the Spirit of God to show you what needs to be removed. Don’t be afraid, but rather, rejoice! Though this may be difficult, and you may even feel shame, know that this is actually a beautiful act of obedience and shame is a liar. Hear me again: Shame is a liar! The Word says that there is joy (JOY!) over even just one person who repents (Luke 15:1-7). So we do not need to fear it. Confession brings freedom. Acknowledging what’s broken within us is one of the most beautiful things you can do, and it requires far more humility and strength than pretending there is nothing wrong. In fact, confession is merely agreeing with the Word, acknowledging that God is not a liar, and there is sin within us, but we know that He is faithful to cleanse us. To make us new. To bring us into freedom. Each time we confess, we declare that yes we have fallen short, but we are not without hope, for Jesus is indeed Savior and forgiveness is His gift to us.
Now, what does this have to do with hospitality? Often we live halfway. We believe in God (of His existence), but we don’t always believe God (what He has to say). Confession, prayer, reading the Word, these I’ve found are less about “legalism” or tasks to be checked off on my long to-do list, but rather they are the way toward freedom, life and intimate relationship. When you pray, you commune with God. When you read the Word, you come to know Him and you discover how to live. And when you confess you agree that you, I, all of us, we need forgiveness and we come boldly to the only one who can provide it, thank you Jesus.
To embody a hospitality that transforms lives, homes and communities, we must be deeply cared for ourselves, and this requires spending time with God. This requires confessing that which keeps us from God and ultimately from being able to love God, ourselves and others well. So often there are things festering in our lives that we think are neutral, but are actually slowly moving us away from Love.
My prayer is that a life of hospitality will be synonymous with a life of confession. We cannot be Love, we need the Holy Spirit to bring it to bear through us. But we cannot do that if we aren’t honest and living in truth. That is my encouragement, my prayer, that we not be a perfect people, but an honest one. That we believe God when He promises hope and forgiveness and renewed hearts. That we continually give Him all that entangles us, and then bear witness to the Love He allows to flow through us and out to others.
