Loving the stranger

I am now taking an intensive two-week module on hospitality in bible college. Through this module I have learnt that hospitality is a duty of every Christian and must be done for strangers within the body of Christ - to make the stranger feel at home with us.

It is natural for us to love those who are close to us, natural for us to give when we have plenty. For these we need no command to love, and indeed we would be no different from the world if we merely loved those that are close to our hearts with the plenty that we have. But our Christian identity forces us to look beyond our shared experiences, culture, personality or preferences or lack thereof. If we acknowledge Jesus to be our saviour and God to be our Father, then we univocally also acknowledge all fellow believers as our brothers and sisters at the same time. The things that I do naturally for people I care for, are the things that I need to do for the stranger and requires me to constantly make sure my heart has room for more people.

One lesson that really impacted me was the application of hospitality in teaching. We should never be teaching people so that they can just learn new information. But it is always to empower them so that they can live their Christian lives more effectively after the teaching. Every idea taught then, must be scrutinized to ensure that they are not just new information for the listener, but will somehow cause him to question his beliefs and the way he lives his life. This requires the me to be not only be familiar with the content I want to teach, but also the state of the heart, mind and lives of those I teach. With God's grace, may I be able empower people to live victorious Christian lives through my teachings.

One invigorating experience was the hospitality that was experienced within the class itself. Food was willingly prepared in abundance by various classmates without being asked for the 27 people in the class. So much effort for people they barely knew. The teacher showed us hospitality by becoming one of us when we broke up discussions, and also by giving us ample breaks! This really challenged me to think how I can be more hospitable to the people around me in my office, in my lifegroup, in my family.

During this class, I definitely struggled with the intense classroom hours. It is not easy for me to stay focused during class for hours on end even with the breaks in between. And at the same time I have to juggle between leading my lifegroup, preparing to serve as the guitarist during the retreat next week and prepare for my biblical interpretation and small group ministry classes that both require readings and assignments to be completed before the start of class. Serving God is never easy.. but I am glad that I am surrounded by many who are making the same if not much more sacrifice than me and it encourages me to persevere as I am reminded that it is always worth it.