Love Does Challenge Day 4: Welcome a Stranger

When you feel like you can’t explain your faith, go love someone – you just did. – @BobGoff #LoveDoes

Read Hebrews 13:1–3:

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

Behind some of our most primal fears is often a basic fear of the unknown. The unfamiliar or unseen is usually scariest to us.

This is why one of the classic Christian disciplines that can heal our fear is the practice of hospitality. Through hospitality – welcoming strangers (or the unknown) into our home, reaching out to the sick and needy – we turn our fear into friendship and do another small part in bringing heaven to earth.

Today you are invited to welcome a stranger in one of three ways:

1. First, you can have a meal with a “stranger.” This can be anything from buying lunch for and eating with a panhandler to inviting some new neighbors over for dinner. Ask God to show you which stranger to welcome.

2. The second option is to visit someone who is sick.

3. The third is to go to someone in need.

Is there someone in the hospital or a shut-in you could call on? Is there someone in prison you could visit or write a letter to?

Again, ask God to show you someone already in your life orbit to whom you might extend hospitality.

Choose one of these three ideas and then act!

Reflection Questions:

• What did you learn about yourself and about God through this exercise?
• Would living this way more often make you less afraid? Why or why not?

How did it go?

Leave a comment and tell us how it went! Be sure to also connect with us on social (Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram) using #LoveDoes to share with @BobGoff and others what you’re doing!

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