16 | September | 2015 | Transforming Word Series

“If any of God’s people need anything, then help them. Give to them what you can give. Be ready to say welcome to visitors and be happy to let them stay in your home” Rom. 12:13 (EET).

Foundation Text: 1 Tim. 3:1-7

HOSPITALITY:

During my undergraduate days, I lived in my fellowship’s secretariat when I served as the President. Now when I say secretariat, I am not talking about one well furnished apartment in maybe a somewhat serene location around or outside the school campus. On the contrary, it was a fraction of a room in the school hostel. If you’ve been to the Federal University of Technology Owerri, you will attest to what I am saying. It was by default a second room for every member of the fellowship. So most of the times you have people trooping into and out of the secretariat, members and non-members alike.

It was not a place one will readily want to stay, of course there was one President I knew that did not stay there. I really have to be sincere, it took the Holy Spirit working on me to leave my comfortable self-contained apartment I had already paid for outside the campus and move into the secretariat.

It was during this period that God taught me practical hospitality. There were lots of things and kinds of people I had to deal with. God really messed with the thing I used to call privacy (I do not mean to sound derogatory). I learnt to put up with people of diverse demeanour. I learnt to “take nonsense” and “stomach rubbish”. I learnt to tolerate and forbear. I learnt to accept people the way they are.

The truth is that as a servant of God, you will meet people with different ideals and orientations. If you want to excel in service, you must accommodate people. Hospitality is a needed quality to enable you be open to accept and give people the helping hand they need without grudges. This might mean sharing the little meal, bed space or bucket of water you have with that visitor that came to you unannounced. It may not be easy, but trust me, you can do it.

The beauty of hospitality is that it reciprocates. People have accepted me into their homes and they knew little or nothing about me. In some cases, I’ve had to wittily talk about myself. A man that is given to hospitality can never be stranded. In all you do, try to show a little hospitality, it really does pay.

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