A friend called me and asked if he could have a place to stay for the night.\u00a0 He said he had a friend with him as well.\u00a0 He is homeless, and his friend has a home. I wanted to give them a place to stay, but it would be a hassle, and my wife didn’t like the idea of letting someone we don’t know to stay here.\u00a0 He has had problems with the law and drugs in the past as well.\u00a0 I’ve repeatedly told him my concern for his soul and offered him rides to services.\u00a0 I did give him gas money, so they can go stay at his friend’s house.\u00a0 I wanted to let him stay and let him see my Christian example, as well as let him know he had to go to services with us tomorrow.\u00a0 But then again, he’d only be going because I basically made him because I would have let him stay.\u00a0 Did I handle this wrong?\u00a0 Should we have let them stay?\u00a0 Did I miss a chance to be hospitable?<\/p>\n\t
No, you are acting sensibly. You don’t invite people who can be a danger to you and your family into your home. You can’t be awake all the time. Invite him to church, offer him a ride, but don’t have him stay overnight.<\/p>\n
When we talk about hospitality, we are talking about welcoming the good into our homes. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth<\/em>” (III John 4-8).<\/p>\n Contrast this to those we know sin or teach falsely: “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds<\/em>” (II John 9-11).\u00a0 You don’t give support to those you know are doing evil.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: A friend called me and asked if he could have a place to stay for the night.\u00a0 He said he had a friend with him as well.\u00a0 He is homeless, and his friend has a home. I wanted to give them a place to stay, but it would be a hassle, and my wife…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1149],"class_list":["post-31959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-hospitality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37767,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-16-year-old-is-being-disrespectful\/","url_meta":{"origin":31959,"position":0},"title":"My 16-year-old is being disrespectful","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a 16-year-old son who has been very disrespectful in this household. It's all because he asked if he could stay with a friend one night and I told him yes. But I called to check on him, and he had gone to a party that had alcohol.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19729,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-i-still-miss-my-friend-who-died\/","url_meta":{"origin":31959,"position":1},"title":"Why do I still miss my friend who died?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello sir, I hope, by the grace of God, you're well. I lost a very good friend of mine last year He was a Christian and also a classmate at the university. Everyone who came in contact with him was surprised and impressed by his level of faith at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42987,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-be-a-good-friend-to-a-guy-that-has-lots-of-problems-with-drugs-and-drinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":31959,"position":2},"title":"How can I be a good friend to a guy that has lots of problems with drugs and drinking?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, So long story short, I was led into the life of a guy with\u00a0a lot\u00a0of problems (drugs and drinking). I got to know him as a friend and he expressed how much he would like to change. I started talking to him more and he attended church with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33347,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-boyfriend-and-i-are-in-a-foreign-country-so-how-do-we-survive-without-living-together\/","url_meta":{"origin":31959,"position":3},"title":"My boyfriend and I are in a foreign country, so how do we survive without living together?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have been reading your blogs regularly. I have a query on a couple living together before marriage. For\u00a0one question regarding this, you advised them as they were willing to get married in near future to just become casual with each other and meet up in public to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31947,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-am-so-miserable-i-need-help\/","url_meta":{"origin":31959,"position":4},"title":"I am so miserable. I need help","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I can't find an answer, and I need guidance, I can't find my path I feel like I am walking in the same place don't go forward. A little background: My mom and dad divorced when I was an older child. My dad drank heavily and abused my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10528,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-woman-at-the-well-change-her-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":31959,"position":5},"title":"Did the woman at the well change her life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did the woman at the well make a change in her life, and if so what kind of change did she make? Answer: After the incidence at the well, we are told, \"From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}