A Door

What comes to mind when you think of a door? This might seem like a simple question but there are many aspects to it.

Has a door ever been slammed on you? Have you ever been denied access? Have you ever walked through a door marked “VIP”? Or have you ever locked yourself out? What does a door represent to you?

When you hear a knock at the door, especially if you’re not expecting anyone, what comes to mind? What’s your response: excitement; curiosity?  Could it be a friend? Could it be a delivery?  These are quite positive reactions. But maybe you could have a more negative response coming from fear, anxiety or apprehension.  Could it be a thief? Could it be the landlord wanting money? Maybe it is someone capable of harming me? If we anticipate danger or feel vulnerable, we might shrink to open it or even peep through the door hole. Others might be excited to open it, especially if they feel they have nothing to hide.

If you do open the door and see it is your long-time friend, you would be excited to welcome them in, perhaps make a cup of tea and have a chat. And, because you’re excited and enjoying their company and you do not want to miss a thing, you’ll avoid any distractions or busyness. Genuinely speaking, even with friends though, we give some of them the liberty to access any room in our house while others are only restricted to just one room and that’s the sitting room.

It is quite profound to think of our heart as having a door too. In our lives, we have opened that door to so many people and things: our friends, our families, and the things we treasure. Our heart has so many rooms; there is room for people that you like and that is not the same room as for the people you love. You’ve a room for things you treasure and a room for people you don’t get along with. All these things are in your heart but not in the same room.

In Revelation 3, Jesus is at the door knocking. A powerful question to ask is that, if you’ve opened the door, does He have access to all the rooms? Or, is He restricted to only the sitting room which was tidied up in a rush when you heard the knock?

Some of us have opened that door yet, although Jesus is inside, like Martha, we’re busy and not spending time with Him. We’ve left the guest on His own as we’re busy in the kitchen preparing for Him. Maybe we avoid them by being busy in the kitchen.  We serve them food and go back to make dessert and by the time they are having dessert, we are washing up.  We just leave a tiny window at the end for a quick catch up before they say it’s too late and it’s time to leave. But when we are with those friends that we can’t leave behind, they join us in the kitchen, we cook together as we chat, even do the washing up together. That’s relationship. Jesus desires us to choose, like Mary, to dwell with Him rather than just labouring for Him.

There’s such a challenge here. Jesus is at the door knocking, don’t keep Him waiting and if He’s already inside, spend time with Him.  If He is restricted to only one room, allow Him access to all the rooms. He just wants to build a relationship with you. He wants to be your friend. Will you let Him?

Open the door of your heart and let Jesus in that room full of darkness and let Him bring light to that room full of darkness. Let Him bring His peace to that room full of anxiety. Let Him bring healing to that room full of wounding. Let Him bring perfect love to that room full of fear and hatred. Let Him bring calmness to that room where there’s a storm.