The Fruit of Hospitality

[Servant Boy]

http://wp.me/pHJ5y-gy

Genesis 18:1-8 Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre,
while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he
lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing
opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet
them and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My Lord, if now I have
found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. “Please
let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves
under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may
refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited
your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.” So Abraham
hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly, prepare three
measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes.” Abraham also
ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the
servant, and he hurried to prepare it. He took curds and milk and the
calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was
standing by them under the tree as they ate.

Each chapter in the book of Genesis is so ripe with meaning and
application that it is a challenge to decide what section to focus on.
Praise God that His spirit reigns in us and directs us as per His
will.

I chose the passage above because of the significance of God's visit.
God was passing by Abraham's tent in human form along with two other
men on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah to punish them for their sins.

Abraham recognized God and asked him to stay for some rest and
refreshments. This was customary of those times except that Abraham
treated them like royalty knowing that He was being visited by the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. What an honor!

The question that lingered in my mind was how Abraham recognized God
when he has not previously seen Him and are we expected to feed and
comfort God, the one who feeds us?

God choosing to visit us in human form is unthinkable because we
complain about our physical limitations and why would God come in our
form for He certainly has a better form or none at all. The reality is
that we think in our little box of human imagination and anything out
of the ordinary spooks us.

God came in human form to relate to Abraham and to show Abraham that
he was now a friend of God. This visitation was much like what Abraham
and the people in his times were used to and Abraham's response was
one of submission and service.

The offering of food and refreshment was a natural one for Abraham and
God did not hold it against him. Instead He accepted Abraham's
hospitality and in so doing blessed Abraham.

Centuries after Abraham, God sent his own and only son Jesus Christ to
come and live among us and we chose to ignore Him and finally put Him
to death, a terrible and most excruciating death on a cross that
served to punish the worst sinners of the land.

Abraham offered God his choice and tender calf and hospitality but we
offered Jesus the worst of ourselves and sacrificed Him for our
selfish gain. Because of our actions, are we not eligible to be
destroyed just like God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah?

God however is merciful and gracious and loves us to a point where He
permitted His son to die for us. God's act of hospitality to us is
beyond anything we will understand and we have the opportunity to
receive God through His son's blood shed on the cross of calvary for
us.

I pray today that we are able to open our hearts to permit God in and
to honor God with our lives in service of the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords.

In His Loving Service,
ServantBoy

Luke 11:10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks
finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.