Showing Off My Best
I raced around trying to make our house look as good as possible.
Reference: Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. (Genesis 18:2 NIV)
Explore: People usually have to take me how they find me, but the other day we had some extra special visitors come to our home. We hadn’t seen them for quite some time and they’d never come to our place before.
I raced around trying to make our house look as good as possible. Everything was removed from the floor and benches and I even tried to persuade my boys to wear nice clothes.
I baked a sweet treat for us to share and bought some special coffee I thought they might like. I worked hard to make our home look as good as possible.
After our special guests had left, my sister came over. She commented on how good the house looked. It made me realise that I mustn’t clean the house very often before she came over!
I really had it around the wrong way. While our guests were lovely, my sister is my best friend. She loves me, cares for our whole family and helps us so much with the kids.
Thankfully she is willing to love us no matter how clean my house is, but surely she is more important to impress than friends whom we rarely see.
Application: When God visited Abraham he went out of his way to make everything perfect. He chose the best flour for bread and the most tender calf for a meal.
I must say that if God turned up to my house I’d want to prepare a whole meal, not just a sweet treat!
God does. however, turn up to our homes every single day. We can see Him in our family, in our friends and in our neighbours. We have the opportunity to give our best hospitality to God every time we meet someone face-to-face.
Prayer: Lord, we are never short of a chance to show our love for You. May we speak love and grace over everyone we meet, just as You have done for us. Amen.
Who will you extend your hospitality to today?
This article was written by Linda Bailey
Linda started theological studies in 1999 in Australia. After working for ten years in various church ministries, she now works as the breakfast producer at 89.9 LightFM - the Christian radio station in Melbourne, Australia. She writes blogs every day about passages she is currently reading in the Bible. Follow her on Google Plus +Linda Bailey or Facebook by clicking the like button on the right of this page.