Practice hospitality to one another (those of the household of faith). [Be hospitable, be a lover of strangers, with brotherly affection for the unknown guests, the foreigners, the poor, and all others who come your way who are of Christ’s body.]…
—1 Peter 4:9
I encourage you to show love for others by simply being friendly. Some people go through life with a lot on their minds—and they can appear to be rather unfriendly, intense, or even rude. I know; I’m one of those people, and maybe you are too. You aren’t unfriendly; you’re simply focused on other things and not always mindful to smile and greet peo¬ple when you see them.
Relationships—casual ones, intimate ones, and all the ones in between—are a large part of life. In fact, the Bible is a book about relation¬ships: our relationships with God, with ourselves, and with others. As I’ve studied the Bible, one of the lessons I’ve learned is to take the time to smile at people, ask how they are, and find something friendly to say to them.
If we’re too busy to be friendly, then we are out of balance and headed for relational disaster. But being appropriately warm and open toward others can put people at ease and is often the first step toward a good relationship.
It’s easy to wonder how we will feel if we smile at people and they don’t smile back; we don’t want to be rejected or ignored. Most of us spend more time in life trying to avoid rejection than we do trying to develop good, healthy relationships. When this happens, we are missing the opportunity to touch people with the love of God through a smile or friendly word. When we give our smiles or a happy hello, we can make someone else smile, and that is one of the best gifts we can give.
Love Others Today: “Lord, please help me be kind and friendly to everyone I meet as a way of showing Your love to them.”
