The Door

Modern advertising would have us believe that fullness of life is dependent on our outward appearance, or is all about fast cars, exciting relationships, exotic holiday destinations and so on. But in today’s verses Jesus tells us that fullness of life comes from Him; that He is the Door, or the way in, to abundant life.

First of all, He promises that if we enter through Him we will be saved. This means that we will be saved from our sin, which separates us from God and leads to death. However, the Greek word “sozo”, used for “saved” in this verse, means much more than that. Of course the most important part of our salvation is that we are rescued from sin so that we can be with the Lord for eternity, adopted into His family. But in the New Testament, the word “sozo” is also used to mean heal, make whole, deliver. We should therefore not be content with having entered once through the Door when we were born again, but we need to keep coming to Jesus in order to enter in to all the healing and wholeness that He has for us. He is the Door to our healing, and the Door is open to us because of all that He accomplished for us at the Cross.

Jesus goes on to say that we will go in and out and find pasture. The familiar picture for people in those times would have been of a sheep pen where the sheep would come in at night to be safe from marauders, and the shepherd would lie across the doorway to protect the sheep. In a very real way, therefore, Jesus is the Door – both the way in and our protector.

In the morning, the shepherd would call his sheep by name and lead them out to find pasture. Jesus is our Good Shepherd, who knows us by name and will lead us to feed on what is good if we obey Him and follow His voice.

Whatever your need is today – healing, spiritual food, inner strength, material provision, a more abundant life – Jesus is the Door to it. He promises that if we enter through Him, we will be saved, healed and delivered, and He will lead us to pasture and fullness of life.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you that you are the Door through which I can enter into the fullness of my salvation. Forgive me for looking elsewhere for my needs to be met. I want to look to You alone in future, and to enter in to all that You have for me. Amen.