Hospitality, Good Works, and Working Hard

Good morning ladies! Last week we talked about what it means to be godly women with self-control and modesty. This week we’ll be learning together what the Bible says about being hospitable, producing good works, and being a hard worker.

“Dear children, let us not love with words, but with actions and truth” (1 John 3:18). I strongly believe that when Jesus commanded us to love one another, he wanted us to do so with actions and not just with what we post on social media.

I am guilty of this too. We put on this front thinking that posting long posts with Bible verses and posts about love, but what about actually showing God’s love through our lives?

When we show and practice hospitality, we’re loving with our actions and showing God’s truth.

At our house, my mom has an “open door” policy meaning we would open our home to anyone in need. In high school, I was a leader at my youth group and my mom volunteered for the youth group as well. In our youth group, the majority of the teens were from poorer families and because of that, my mom made sure to buy snacks for every Wednesday night as much as she could.

I’m telling you this because no matter how stressed out my mom was, she made sure our youth pastor and the kids had all that they needed to keep the youth group running. If our youth pastor couldn’t have church at her house that week, we would have it at ours. If our youth pastor and her family had to go out of town, we would take care of church that week. My mom constantly showed hospitality even when she wasn’t at home. She took care of people.

She gave all that she had to be a mom to some kids who didn’t know what being loved felt like. In turn, she was showing them God’s love.

That’s hospitality.

My mom showed hospitality “to others without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9). She showed, and still shows, “love in action” (Romans 12).

I remember asking her, “don’t you ever get tired? Don’t you want recognition for all you do? Don’t you want a ‘thank you’?”

She just smiled and said, “It’s not about me, it’s about Him.”

One of the fruits of the Spirit is hospitality. When we care for the needs of someone, we’re showing hospitality.

When we “bless those who curse us” and give to our enemies, we’re showing hospitality (Luke 6:28).

When we’re kind to strangers or people we don’t know well, or people we might not necessarily like, we could be showing hospitality to angels without knowing it (Hebrews 13:2).

“The woman who serves unnoticed and unthanked is a woman who loves God more than she desires praise from others” (Wendy Pope).

Showing hospitality can be difficult, but I promise that it’s fulfilling. It’s the same way with producing good works and being a hard worker.

Titus 2:3-5 says, “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”

In verse 3, Paul talks about the older women teaching what is good. Then in verse 4, Paul states what happens when older women teach what is good: the younger women would love their husbands and children, become self-controlled, pure, taking care of their homes, kind, and submitting to their husbands.

Producing good works is when we surrender our lives to God and set an example of His Word so that others may come to Jesus because of our example.

But remember this: just because we strive to produce good works doesn’t mean we need to strive for perfection. Jesus is perfect, we are not.

And that’s OK.

In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he talks about living a quiet life, minding our own business, and working hard so that our lives would “win the respect of others” (4:11-12).

If we want to do good for the Gospel and be successful, we need to mind our own business.

Ladies, it does no good to gossip or pry into other people’s lives. It just distracts us from showing hospitality, working hard, and “running the race God has set before us” (Philippians 3:14).

Whatever we do, we must do it as if we’re working for the Lord (Colossians 3). I promise that when we work hard and show hospitality, we will produce good works.

The Lord sees our struggles. He sees our workload and stress. He sees our timidity towards strangers. He understands.

But He also commanded us to love Him and love others. When we surrender our agendas, our homes, and our resources to show someone love, in turn, we’re showing our love for Jesus Christ.

God bless,

M.A.

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