Pure JesusSample

Jesus - Your Friend and Family

Knock, Knock. Who's There?

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (Revelation 3:20)

Jesus says, “I stand at the door and knock.” When I learned this Bible verse as a child, I got this picture in my mind of toga-wrapped Jesus standing outside the front door to my house, not really knocking as much as gently tapping. I know now that this door isn’t made of wood or steel, and it’s not attached to anybody’s house. It’s the door to my heart, and I get to choose whether I open it or not. 

Notice the verse doesn’t say, “I have stood” or “I did stand before” or “I’m gonna stand later…” It says, “I stand.” Jesus right now stands at the doors of each of our hearts. He’s knocking for us to open our hearts in faith to His grace and forgiveness, and once we open that door for Him, and receive Him, Jesus is always on the inside!

I spent some time recently thinking about this verse and how it might apply to my everyday. I make choices all day long, either having opened the door to my heart for Christ or having held it shut. Here’s how I know. If the love and grace that Christ gives freely to me is passing through me and showing up in how I love and grace others, then I’m pretty sure I opened the door. If the love and grace of Christ stops with me and isn’t spilling over to my kids, my spouse, my co-workers, my enemies...I think that door is closed.

I don’t know about you, but I want to pay more attention to that. I’d like to focus on keeping my Jesus door open. What would change for the better in my life if I paid more attention to opening my heart to the work Jesus wants to do in ME, instead of the work I think He should be doing in someone else? The truth is we really can’t control much about others, but we can control how open our Jesus door is and if we keep it open for others to see Him. 

Reflection:

Jesus is standing at the door of your heart and knocking. If you hear Him and open the door, He will come in. Now what if you did your best to keep that door open? Then other people can look inside and see that God really does live in there.