Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
HEBREWS 13:1 – 2
When my daughter Catherine was about two, she had many words she was able to communicate, but whenever we would have another toddler over to play at the house, there seemed to be only one word in her vocabulary: “Mine!” The guest could have ventured to the very bottom of the toy chest and picked out something Catherine had not played with for months, but as soon as she saw it in another child’s hands . . . well, you know: “Mine!”
All children go through this phase, and it takes another year or two for them to sincerely want to share their toys. With the right direction, they begin to grasp the concept that they are not the center of the universe — that every other human being has not been placed here for their pleasure and convenience.
When many of us became saved, we had so much negative junk in our souls that we needed to spend that first season as Christians focused on healing and renewing our spiritual core. This isn’t a bad thing at all, unless we get comfortable and stay there. There comes a time when we must begin to reach out to the world around us. Becoming a Christian does not mean we join a private and exclusive club. On the contrary, Jesus invites us to be part of an inclusive community in which we love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
Christianity is loving God and loving other people. It would be ridiculous to think about a person standing in front of her church, guarding the front doors, and yelling, “Mine!” to any new person trying to enter; we would think something was seriously wrong with that person. But if we are brutally honest, don’t we sometimes think this way? The church does not exist to satisfy each and every one of our selfish pursuits and ambitions, but rather it is a place where we can serve the needs of others.
MOMENT OF REFLECTION
How do you feel when new people come to your church?
How about those who seem irregular or disruptive?