If

showing hospitality meant we always had to throw ele­gant parties

and impress our guests, most of us would not bother with it.

The

Bible’s instruction to “practice hospitality” is much simpler.

Though it includes some planning and calls for showing people a warm

welcome, hospitality is more about cultivating relationships and

sharing the love that God has shown us.

Paul,

who wrote to the Romans, considered hospitality an everyday practice

and described it as vital to spiritual growth. More than throwing

grand parties and putting on a performance, hospitality is about

inviting people into our lives and sharing from what we have—both

as giver and recipient.

One

day, my wife found that she needed one more egg for a recipe she was

making. Catching the eye of a new neighbor, she asked if she could

borrow an egg. Out of her need for something so minor, a new

relationship formed. Being dependent on another allowed her to

receive not just the egg for her recipe but also a new friendship.

To

be a neighbor is to be both neighborly and open to neighborliness.

Love looks out for others and recognizes the ­effect our actions

will have on others when we make decisions. It calls us to attend not

just to blessing others but to being blessed by them as well.