use hospitality (without grudging)

There is a snippet of wisdom I wanted to add to "All Things Come of Thee," but it was already too lengthy, so I'll just post it here instead.  Not long ago I requested Karen Ehman's easy-to-read A Life that Says Welcome via inter-library loan.

In the book Ehman emphasizes that being "given to hospitality" (Romans 12:13) is more about the state of one's heart than the state (or size) of one's home.

She also differentiates between "entertaining" and "hospitality," noting that when we think of ourselves as "entertaining" our guests, we make ourselves the entertainer, the center of attention.  Appearances - our own, and that of our home and the food we've prepared - then take priority.  But true Christian hospitality is focused not on self, but on serving our guests, whom we "esteem better than ourselves" (Philippians 2:3).

As one who is trying to become better at obeying the Lord's command to "use hospitality" (1 Peter 4:9), I thought those were little nuggets worth committing to memory.  I hope that they are beneficial to you, too.

Love is not anxious to impress, nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own ideas.

Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage.

~ Elisabeth Elliot, Let Me Be a Woman