If you’re anything like me, sometimes your family is lucky if you even find a box of macaroni in your cluttered pantry and have a clean pan to cook it in for dinner. The idea of inviting someone over for a meal, making the house look at least somewhat presentable, and cooking a company-worthy dinner is daunting, to say the least.

Unfortunately, there’s no getting around the Biblical command to offer hospitality. That’s right. It’s not just a suggestion or something that Martha Stewart made up in the 90’s. Hospitality was originally God’s idea, and Christians are called to be hospitable. “Practice hospitality” (Romans 12:13b) is about as straight-forward as it gets. Peter echoes this command when he writes: “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9). Both elders and deacons are required to be hospitable, and it appears like hospitality is expected of all Christians – stay-at-home moms, working women, empty-nesters, you name it – regardless of whether or not they have the spiritual gift of hospitality.

If you’re busy inside and outside the home, or if you have young children, however, the actual idea of opening your house to others regularly might sound like too much. Before my oldest son, Nehemiah, was born, my husband and I enjoyed entertaining our neighbors and friends from church regularly. When I became a mom, however, I felt way too tired to have people over, and I would much rather have played with my newborn than try to clean house and cook a meal while he cried for my attention.

When most of us think of fulfilling God’s command to show hospitality, we imagine inviting someone over to a nice prepared dinner. But sometimes it seems like there just aren’t enough usable time in the day to do that. The Bible never limits hospitality to an evening meal. There are many other creative ways to show hospitality that don’t necessarily involve a three-course dinner on company china!

Afternoon or morning tea is a great way to get to know another woman. Having a girlfriend over during the day can allow for much more intimate conversation than you might have if her entire family and your entire family were all around the table together. I’m not a huge tea drinker myself, but I make it a point to keep several nice varieties of tea in the cupboard so that I can invite another woman over for a cup at the last minute.

The other benefit of having tea is that you don’t need to cook a whole meal. Muffins or quick bread, or even something as simple as a selection of fresh fruit, is more than adequate. Since I never know if I’ll have time to bake something that morning, I try to make several small loaves of pumpkin bread or banana bread at a time and always have some in the freezer to offer guests. You don’t even need fancy tea cups or saucers. Before I had a tea kettle, I actually just boiled water in a big pan. It wasn’t exactly elegant, but once the conversation got going that didn’t matter.

When my second son was born with significant health problems, I needed a lot of support once we brought him home from the hospital. He required constant care, and I also had a toddler who needed to feel loved, remembered, and cherished. Many women from our church brought over meals for our family during that first month. Some meals came right from their freezers. At that point in my life, I didn’t need an invitation to spend an evening at someone else’s home. I just needed something to throw in the oven so we wouldn’t starve!

After our neighbor’s lost their teenage son when I was growing up, my mom would regularly cook a big pot of soup and leave it on their doorstep. She didn’t even stay to chit-chat when they opened the door. Sometimes taking a meal to someone else is a great way to help out in a very practical way. One benefit of this type of hospitality is that you can prepare the meal ahead of time and keep it in your fridge or freezer. Also, the people you’re serving will never know if you’re house is a mess! They’ll just enjoy the kindness you showed them.

Everyone agrees that it takes a lot of work to prepare a meal for company. So next time someone invites you to their home for dinner, especially if you know they’re busy, offer to bring the main course. It’s a kind of reverse hospitality, but it’s still a great idea (as long as it won’t offend your gracious host and hostess!) Dinner’s still at their house (meaning they’re the ones stuck with cleaning up ahead of time and washing all the dishes afterwards), so why not ease their lives by doing the cooking at your place and bringing it over there?

Sometimes it’s fun to have not just one person or one family over. Sometimes it’s fun to have a whole group of friends over! When the Lord prompted me to host a prayer luncheon for the ladies at my church, I was hesitant at first. When could I find time to cook for a dozen women? And the fact that so many of the ladies I’d be inviting were better cooks than I, I felt a little intimidated, to say the least.

The Bible never says that we can’t be creative when we show hospitality. I invited the ladies over for a potluck lunch. They could choose to bring soup, salad or bread. We ended up having a great selection of delicious food, plenty to eat, and a wonderful time of prayer and fellowship following our meal.

Hospitality is so much more than having people over for a meal. It’s an attitude of the heart. A hospitable heart is one that gives generally of its time and energy. A hospital heart serves so that others can be blessed. During the summer, our church always eats together before the service. It is the responsibility of the deaconesses to provide brunch. You’d think it’d be enough to have some bagels or donuts, but these women bring in fresh fruit, baked omelets, bread rolls, breakfast casseroles, yogurt and granola … I think you get the picture. Although these women are not having groups of people into their homes to serve them a meal, they are certainly obeying the Bible’s command to show hospitality.

There are many blessings that come from inviting others over for dinner. But hospitality doesn’t have to be limited to an evening meal. By being creative, you can find ways to be hospitable that fit into your lifestyle and your schedule. The Bible doesn’t give us many details on how to do it. The Bible just tells us to show hospitality. Trust God to give you creative ways to do just that.