A WORD FOR TODAY, June 26, 2025
Peggy Hoppes
We pray you have been blessed by this daily devotion. If you received it from a friend, you can see other devotions and studies by visiting our website at www.awordfortoday.org.
Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, June 26, 2025
“For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:14-21, WEB
How do you prepare for visitors? What do you do to make your guests feel like they are at home? We begin by cleaning the house: the floor gets vacuumed, the flat surfaces get dusted, and the kitchen gets cleaned. Someone scrubs the bathroom from top to bottom, and we make sure that the hand towels are fresh and the air freshener is working. Fresh linens are put on the dining room table. We check the pantry for food and the refrigerator for drinks. We plan menus and activities that will make the guests happy. We dig out some toys to keep any children occupied.
We spend extra time preparing the guest room if our guests will stay overnight. We put fresh linens on the bed and flowers in a vase. We have a basket full of hotel soaps and shampoos just in case they forget something. I keep a pile of postcards with pens and stamps so that they can send messages to their family and friends. We buy special treats and fulfill requests so that they will be satisfied. We plan visits to interesting places or activities so that they will get to experience Texas.
Our house is their home while anyone is visiting. They can use our Wi-Fi, and even our computers if they need to print boarding passes or check their email. We take care of their every need, but mostly we make sure they are so comfortable that they feel like they are home. “No need to ask for something, help yourself!” is the way things work at our house. Hopefully our guests do truly feel like they are one of the family, welcome to share in all that we have.
Ephesians 3:17 made me think about how we treat company, and it made me wonder if we make Jesus feel at home in our hearts the way we make our homes comfortable for visitors? Do we fill our hearts with good things so that He will feel welcome? He is our guest, invited by faith into the very depths of our beings, but our hearts are not always the most pleasant places. We harbor sinful thoughts and forget the good things. We put our time and our energy into living our lives, but we do not take the time for worship, prayer, and bible study that will help make our hearts cozier for our Lord Jesus.
We put a lot of time and energy into making our homes a place where our guests feel comfortable. Perhaps we should think about that when we get so busy that we do not have time for the Lord. After all, He’s not just a guest; He has taken up residency in our hearts and He deserves to have a place where He feels at home, like one of our family and welcome to share in every aspect of our lives.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org