A Wise Woman understands the value, influence and impact that her home has upon all her surroundings. She takes the time to position her home and prepare it to serve the community around her. As she prays for opportunities, lost neighbors and strangers she has yet to meet, she is not just found just waiting on the Lord and doing nothing---but she diligently prepares. She purposefully creates an atmosphere that is pleasurable and one that is ready for visitors at a drop of a hat. If this thought makes you cringe, then we must evaluate our motives.
Ministering to those in the home is not a show, we must understand this if we want to use our homes to impact the Kingdom. If we begin to feel the urge to impress people with the cleanliness or stateliness of our homes and our possessions we are missing the mark. Satan loves to take something that is intended as God's blessing and pervert it. He would also like to confuse our motives of having an orderly, God pleasing home and encourage our sinful flesh to be concerned with the worldly aspects of hospitality---the one the world sends of perfectionism and pride.
Christian hospitality operates from love. It is humble and doesn't care or mind that imperfections may be glaring. It understands that this world is temporary and that there is a spiritual battle that must be fought. Positioning our homes as a place of respite helps to combat the war in and outside of our front doors. If we do not understand this we allow some of God's greatest blessings to be stolen from us. Trying to look perfect to the world is a false representation of who we are. There is no one perfect except Christ alone. Think of how you were encouraged as a young mother to visit other homes that were not in perfect pristine conditions.
As Wise Women we need to plan and pray. We need to get our homes ready today for the visitors the Lord will bring tomorrow, we need to be wise managers of our household affairs, wise trainers of our children, and and wise planners to best execute the positioning of our homes.
Most importantly, we need to prepare what the Lord's priority's are---having a right heart. Not one that is self-centered, self exalting or grumbling but one that overflows with love, friendship, acceptance and encouragement to bring Him glory to a lost, needy and dying world.
************************
10 comments:
I think you have written such a convicting post. We are always so quick to make sure that on the outside our houses look perfect but forget that its actually just a tool in God's hand to change the lives of others! I love this. I have 4 children and my house is not always perfect and I suffer from self criticism and feeling like its never good enough. I am glad to be reminded that though we should work towards excellence, the condition of our hearts and our love for others is more important
You are truly an incredible inspiration and a voice of wisdom to women everywhere. Thank you for the encouraging and challenging posts you write. I truly want to keep these principles and motives in my own life and home. Thank you for the blessing today.
This is exactly what I needed to read today!
Oh this has always been an area of struggle for me....not the keeping my home ready part, but the WANTING company part as I have previously been a *grumbler* about company. I have diligently prayed, and the Lord has changed my heart. I am now conciously aware of how I can serve others in my home, and have made HUGE improvements with the help of the Lord in this past year! I love this post! This is very, very true, and I can attest to the blessings that come when we stop grumbling and start ministering! ;D Thanks for sharing!--S
What a wonderful post! So often we miss opportunities to minister to others because our homes are not "show ready".
I agree that our homes should be places of hospitality and ministry. It does not require fancy foods, or place settings or centerpieces. It requires a heart of service and welcome.
Thanks for this post....
Thank you for that great reminder!
Thank you, I needed this post today. I have recently loss my mother (April 13th) & my home is not very inviting right now. Thank you again.
This is a great post! One of the biggest challenges for me was handing the reins over to my husband after listening to, "She Shall Be Called Woman," by Victoria Botkin. I laid down my selfish Better Homes and Gardens ideal home and asked my husband how he sees the home to be incorporated into his mission which I vowed to honor and help him with. So, now the home does NOT look the way "I" would prefer (my mother was an interior decorator...I spent my life learning how to decorate like her), rather the decor of the home focuses on my husband's mission. It is still attractive with little touches here and there, but it is not magazine cover worthy, it is lived in and life happens in our home.
***That was quite the lesson to learn!
Very wise. I am guilty. The last two weeks I have done something similar, twice, that turns drop-bys away because I wanted a 'clean' house or I wasn't in the 'mood'. Shame on me. Thank you for reminding me of who I am serving, not myself but the people God brings here to me.
Post a Comment