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1 Peter 4:9

彼得前书 4:9

The Passage

Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

In the other language

你们要互相款待，不发怨言。

Theme

Hospitality

Bring a question to this passage

Many readers arrive here from a real question. These are reflections for how this passage speaks to the questions people bring most often — not an answer about what will happen, but an invitation to sit with it slowly.

How do I face this season of pressure at work?

Hospitality may feel like one more demand when your working day has already taken so much. This verse does not explain how to manage a heavy workload; it asks for welcome without grumbling. Its invitation is not to unlimited availability, but to attend to the spirit in which you make room for another person. A welcome can be modest and honest about your capacity. At work, that might mean listening briefly, including someone who is overlooked, or offering help you can actually give. Notice the difference between willing generosity and a resentful yes. Where in your working day, which this verse does not tell you how to manage, might you make room for someone with a willing heart and an honest sense of your capacity?

Carry thisA modest welcome can be genuine without being limitless.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 1 Corinthians 7:3-4

I want to learn to love better in this relationship.

Hospitality is a practical shape of love: making room for another person. Peter adds something easily overlooked: without grumbling. You can offer your time or attention while quietly keeping a record of what it costs you. This verse invites you to notice both the welcome you give and the resentment that may accompany it. Loving better does not mean making yourself endlessly available or hiding your limits. An honest limit can be kinder than a reluctant yes. Within what you can freely offer, there may be room for a more generous welcome. Where could you make room for this person with a willing heart, while being honest about what you can freely offer?

Carry thisA willing welcome matters more than a reluctant yes.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 1 Corinthians 7:3-4

What do I need to let go of in the coming weeks?

Hospitality can look generous on the outside while keeping a private account of what it costs. Peter's words reach that hidden place: welcome one another without grumbling. As you consider what to let go of, this passage invites you to notice resentment attached to your giving. It does not ask you to abandon wise limits or say yes to every request. It asks whether your welcome has become tangled with an expectation of recognition, repayment, or control. You can acknowledge the cost without making another person feel like a burden. In what way could you loosen your hold on resentment or the wish to be repaid, while keeping honest limits on what you offer?

Carry thisWelcome need not keep a hidden account of repayment.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 1 Corinthians 7:3-4

How can I find stillness in a busy life?

A welcome does not have to be elaborate to be sincere. This passage does not directly explain how to find stillness, but it invites you to offer hospitality without grumbling. You might notice what happens inside you when someone needs your attention. Resentment can reveal that you are tired or trying to give more than you have. You can bring that honestly before God rather than hiding it beneath a pleasant face. A simpler welcome may leave room for both kindness and quiet. You need not make every encounter impressive. Hospitality can begin with a little room in your day, but what would help you offer that room freely?

Carry thisA small welcome can be offered without keeping score.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 1 Corinthians 7:3-4

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1 Peter 4 — in context

3For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.

4They think it is strange that you don’t run with them into the same excess of riot, blaspheming:

5who will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

6For to this end the Good News was preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed as men in the flesh, but live as to God in the spirit.

7But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer.

8And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins.

9Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

10As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.

11If anyone speaks, let it be as it were the very words of God. If anyone serves, let it be as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

12Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you, to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.

13But because you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory you also may rejoice with exceeding joy.

14If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.

15For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil doer, or a meddler in other men’s matters.

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