Most doormats say "Welcome" if they say anything at all. Actually mine say nothing...so let me say it. Welcome....because I want you to always feel welcomed at my house. Hmm. Do I really mean that? Always? For anyone?
This is how my grandmother's dictionary from 1951 says it - welcome: 1.word of kindly greeting. 2. a kind reception: you will always have a welcome here. Yes, it says exactly that...and if this dictionary was good enough for Grandma, well then....
Sometimes I 'reserve the right to refuse service'...as the saying goes. And so I justify to myself why I can't do such and such or why I am too busy with my schedule to be distracted with the needs of others. That sounds harsh, but that is exactly what I do at times. (And you do, too, by the way.) I want to decide when I am willing to be inconvenienced....when it is convenient for me. Shame on me. Shame on you.
What does God's dictionary say to us?
2 Corinthians 13:12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. It says this at least 5 times. Kiss, kiss.
Philippians 4:21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you.
Matthew 5:47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Exactly. Don't just do what is easy.
Matthew 10:12 As you enter the house, greet it.
Romans 14:1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.
Romans 15:7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Hebrews 11:31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
Love is willing to be a doormat. It chooses to be one, in fact. No rights to be trampled on. No claim to 'time for self.' Maybe that is what should be written on my mat. Just "Love." And maybe then I will be inclined and reminded to live it out inside the house.
Matthew 25:43-46 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Romans 16:22 I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.
I June, who wrote this post, greet you in the Lord here and at my front door, with love.
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