Inner Hospitality and Peace in Matthew 10:11-15

Neville's Inner Vision

Entering any city or house is a movement of consciousness. To ask who is worthy is to inquire within: who in my own state is ready to receive the peace I carry? When I greet a house, I greet my own mind with respect, and if that mind is ready, my peace sets there like a lamp. If the house is not worthy, the peace returns to me because I do not abandon my inner state for outer approval. The act of shaking the dust from my feet becomes the disciplined withdrawal of belief from unreceptive thoughts, not punishment of others. In this inner economy, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city, meaning, the judgment is toward the neglected inner state, not some external city. So I dwell in the assumption: I am peace; I am welcomed; my words create a warm atmosphere that blesses all with my inner 'shalom'. By persistently inhabiting this state, the outer world rearranges to reflect my inner worthiness and I am free to move where I am most alive.