All God wants is to be with us.

But he wants us to want to be with him. But he won’t demand it. And that’s because love requires freedom. He wants us in our freedom to want God. It’s the simple truth behind the whole of salvation history, behind everything God does. He simply wants us to desire him and not lesser things.

These beautiful scenes from the Bible: Abraham and Sarah’s hospitality and Mary and Martha’s welcome of Jesus. They show us the virtues of hospitality Christians ought to have. Openness to strangers and the occasional, even temporary, friend; genuine service and work for others, but with an ability to contemplate in all things more than material value, the “better part” Jesus called it.

The point being that our task as Christians is to be open to every moment, hospitable to God always and to all people. That is, we ought radically to be open to serving others, being with others, finding God in others. Because that’s how God ordained for us to search for him. Because it will help us learn how to want God the right way—in love and freedom with our brothers and sisters.

So, look to serve. You’ll find God that way, surprised by him.