Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. 1 Peter 4:9
Elizabeth lives with her husband and two children, a couple expecting their first child, and a single woman. They all live and worship together, pooling their resources communally.
Elizabeth and her friends are doing relationship a lot like the early Christian Church did. The Bible book of Acts tells that “ … all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity,” and that they were “united in heart and mind” (Acts 2:44-46, 4:32a).
Living in community gives us plenty of opportunities to live out the relationships we were made for. The Bible calls for us to “bear one another’s burdens,” “cheerfully share your home,” and “serve each other” (Galatians 6:2, 1 Peter 4:9-10). While you may say “no thanks” to communal living—and Elizabeth concedes it might not be for everyone, she shares three relationship honoring habits anyone can work to cultivate:
- One, loosen your grip on your preferences. Go out to meet a friend when you feel like staying in or go for tea with a non-coffee drinker.
- Two, prioritize relationships. Purposely choosing to live in proximity to family and friends—to be properly involved in people’s lives, takes courage, but God meant for us to live in strong relationships with others.
- Three, be radically honest. Elizabeth says, “Our house works much better when we express hurt or irritation quickly rather than seethe silently.”[1]
You don’t have to live together to live connected.
[1] Elizabeth Oldfield, “Your Social Muscles Are Wasting Away. Here Is How to Retrain Them,” New York Times, December 24, 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/opinion/community-housing-friendship.html.
