My Table Set For Company: True Christian Hospitality

I want to live with my Table Set For Company: showing true Christian hospitality to all. So I can dine in heavenly places when I die.

 

Most of us likely had a day of feasting yesterday, Thanksgiving Day.

Enjoying the fun and fellowship of family and/or friends, gathered round a table groaning with good, old traditional foods. And we probably did this twice. The great big dinner-at-noon, and then lunch-at-dinner with all the leftovers.

And we went home full. Filled with food, but even more, the delicious after-glow of a day spent with people we love.

Thanksgiving is hospitality on steroids. We completely overdo the menu and amounts of food in the name of gratitude for God’s bountiful blessings. In an attempt to repay Him somehow, in our small way, by going forth and doing the things He asks us to do.

One thing He asks of His people is to practice hospitality.

With a table set for company, always.

 

The Bible’s Words on Hospitality

”
Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
As every man hath received the gift,
even so minister the same one to another,
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
If any man speak,
let him speak as the oracles of God;
if any man minister,
let him do it as of the ability which God giveth:
that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ,
to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever.
Amen.
”
1 Peter 4:9-11

 

”
I commend unto you Phebe our sister,
which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:
That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints,
and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you:
for she hath been a succourer of many,
and of myself also.
”
Romans 15:1,2

 

A real life Phebe.

My friend’s mom, Katharine, was the epitome of hospitality. One Sunday morning at church she was impressed to invite a certain couple to eat lunch with her husband and her. But she knew her pantry was quite bare. There was no roast in the oven. This didn’t stop her. Katharine invited them, and they ate fried potatoes and fried eggs together. (She found out years later that fried potatoes were a favorite of the husband.)

This was the story of her life. She loved sharing her hospitality with friends, serving them meals around her large table.

Then one day Katharine invited company and set her table. As she went about preparing the food, she began to feel ill. Instead of improving as the day went on, she got worse. Finally, she reluctantly admitted she’d have to cancel their meal with friends and family. Her symptoms grew so bad, she called her doctor.

The doctor asked her to go to the Emergency Room. Then they admitted her for further tests and treatment.

She never went home again. God called His faithful “Phebe” to her heavenly home.

With her earthly table set for company.

 

My Table Set For Company

That is how I wish to live my life:

With my table set for company.

I want my home to be a sanctuary for those whom God sends my way.

Not because of the beauty of the table setting or the delectable menu. Not to feel as if they’re on the glossy pages of Southern Living.

I want my table set with Christian love,

so guests feel they are in a home that believes each person is special.

 

So I can dine in heavenly places when I die.