With Christmas quickly approaching, many of us are fully immersed in the Christmas traditions and festivities. Christmas time provides a great reminder for us to be hospitable to those who are in our lives. Jesus teaches us to be hospitable (Matthew 25:31-46), and Christmas time affords us the perfect opportunity where we can invite people into our homes or offer baked goods and other treats to our friends and neighbours.
Last week, I heard a cool story about how a couple in our church creatively used the Christmas season as a missional opportunity. This couple lives in a condo, and they decided to serve their neighbours by baking some Christmas cookies and going door to door to hand them out to their neighbours in their building. This gave them a way to get to know the neighbours a bit, and it also gave them the opportunity to invite a Christian friend over to their place to make the cookies together. This inclusion of a friend makes the missional activity fun and it also allows them to work as a team (and hopefully inspires the friend to also think about how he can be missional to his own friends and neighbours).
This couple has been serving their neighbours for the last few months; they got to know the stories of some of their neighbours. For example, they found out a young family moved into their building recently, so they made a housewarming gift package and brought it over to the family. This kind of love and care expresses God's hospitable nature. God feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, befriends the stranger, and fills our every need with His perfect love. To glorify God, we can reflect His true nature to our friends, colleagues, and neighbours by listening to their stories and finding a way to bless them.
I hope this story inspires you to take advantage of the Christmas season to be missional. I encourage you to look around you to see if there are people who are lonely this time of the year. Perhaps there are people in your life that need your friendship. Invite them into your home. Bring them baked goods. Befriend them and listen to their stories. Then, prayerfully consider how God will use you to bless them through you. May God's love fill your house this Christmas season, and may it overflow unto those who are in your lives today!
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