Hindrances to Hospitality: A New Series about What Holds Us Back & How To Overcome

Together this series is meant to explore some of the hidden things behind our struggle with hospitality and how we overcome them.

Hindrances to Hospitality

Think about hospitality for a minute. Is this something you excel at? Unfortunately for most of us, this is an area we could use improvement in.

So what stands in your way? Is it time? Finances? Loneliness? An introverted personality? Lack of community? There are a lot of contributing factors but perhaps we should dig in and see if any of these warrant not fulfilling the command to live life in community. We also need to dig in and solve the problem!

One Another Commands Necessitate Hospitality

Scripture is filled with “one another” commands. Books upon books have been written about all of them but here is a quick glance at a few.

• “Bear one another’s burdens” – Galatians 6:2
• “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:32
• “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” – Romans 12:10
•  “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.” – 1 Peter 5:5
•  “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” – Philippians 2:3
• “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” – 1 Peter 4:9

How can we fulfill the “one another” commands of Scripture unless we are in relationship with one another? If we are not an active part of each other’s lives, how can we help carry the load of life’s burdens or consider what other people want to be more important than our own desires? If we are not in relationship with each other, how will we ever have the opportunity to forgive an offense or offer hospitality?

 Being in relationship is key to living out the Christian life. More and more as a society our doors are closed and our screens are on. We mistake Snapchat and Facebook posts with real relationship. Because we have seen the social media side of each other’s lives we feel like we know one another. The reality is much different from the screen.

Hospitality Hurdles to Overcome

There was a time in our recent history when celebrities were the only ones with “on screen” lives but now, it’s pretty much all of us.

The unfortunate thing about this is that we are left looking for moments in life that are Instagram worthy rather than real. The pressure this puts on hospitality is tremendous.

So how do we get beyond this?

Together this series is meant to explore some of the hidden things behind our struggle with hospitality and how we overcome them.

We will look at what Scripture has to say about hospitality and the model and motivation we have for all of our hospitality efforts – Christ.

We will explore how to show hospitality even when you don’t feel like it’s your gifting. And we will gain some excellent resources to keep on hand when you are ready to try it out.

We will also talk about how an introverted personality can feel like a hindrance to hospitality and what to do about it.

There are also spiritual, emotional, and mental hindrances to hospitality that hold us back. We will discuss how challenging it can be to humble ourselves and allow others to see what it is not always perfect in our lives. Comparison is a thief of joy and we will talk about how that stops hospitality in its tracks. We’ll also discuss fear and loneliness and how they add to our struggle.

There are physical struggles in hospitality ministry like a genuine lack of community, physical and dietary restrictions, the necessity of cleaning, and small spaces. We will look at each of these and address their solutions.

There are also financial hindrances to hospitality and we will talk about those. Things like how to hold what we have with open hands and also how to live hospitably on a budget. We will discuss a hospitable life and also give some practical tools for opening our homes and hearts when money is tight.

We also can’t forget to talk about our most important resource – time. This will include a discussion of how to make hospitality a priority in our lives. We’ll also talk about practical steps to bringing others into our busyness, not procrastinating, and seeing people as more important than to-do lists (although I love a good to-do list!).

Journey To A Hospitable Heart With Me

I hope you will consider taking this journey with me! When we finish this together, it is my prayer that we will have learned a tremendous amount and have a resource that we are able to look back on for years to come as God shapes our homes and our hearts around the people He brings to us.

So far in this series we have addressed, Why Hospitality is Important, Hindrances to Hospitality in the Life of Christ and How He Overcame, 5 Emotional and Spiritual Hindrances to Hospitality and How to Overcome Them, 4 Ways to Make Time for Hospitality , and When Finances Make Hospitality Hard. I truly hope this series will be a blessing to you!