12-24-2023

Good Morning All,

          Revelation 3:20; “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

       There is an old preacher’s joke that goes something like this.  A preacher was trying to visit one of his members.  He stood at the door and knocked and knocked but nobody answered.  So, he took out his pen and paper and wrote on the paper “Rev. 3:20” and left it on the door, thinking it was a clever way to get a member to read the Bible.  On Sunday, a note addressed to the preacher was found in the collection plate.  Below his writing of “Rev. 3:20” was a lady’s handwriting with the verse “Gen. 3:10.”  With his curiosity raised he quickly opened his Bible and read, “I heard your voice, but I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”  Sometimes it happens.

    Have you ever avoided answering the door to your home because you didn’t want the person to know that you were home?  Perhaps it was a salesman or a neighbor that you just didn’t want to deal with today.  Sometimes, pressures lead us to avoid answering the door because we fear a bill collector.  Sometimes in anger we avoid answering the door because we aren’t ready to speak to them just yet.  How long have you left the door unanswered?  For some it is years upon years.

    That is what happens when you refuse to forgive your brother or sister.  Oh, you may allow them a physical presence; you may even be “civil” towards them; but if you refuse to forgive then you have effectively shut the door on any true relationship.  You have decided not to answer them.  If it is a plea of repentance or a plea for mercy as long as you shut the door, you have locked that person out of your life.

    You are also locking Jesus out of your life.  When we refuse to forgive, we are blocking God’s forgiveness to us.  We are closing the door on our relationship with Jesus as well.  Jesus came to fix broken people.  He came to fix broken hearts, broken spirits, and broken relationships.  All the healing requires forgiveness.  All the healing requires open doors and when the doors are open, reconciliation can occur.

    The greatness of Christ’s reconciliation for us is that he continually knocks at the door of our heart wanting to be allowed in.  He wants to enter your heart and dwell in you with the peace of his fellowship.  He wants us to live content with the certainty of our salvation.  He wants us to take this God given reconciliation and then go out and heal our brokenness in the relationships that we have with our family, friends, neighbors and other brothers and sisters in Christ.  Jesus is standing at the door and knocking.  We should also stand at the door of those who we have hurt or hurt us so that we may be reconciled to them because of Christ’s great love for us.

Father, too often we let pride and ego destroy our relationships with those whom you have placed in our lives.  Forgive us and lead us to open the door to the healing that is needed in this world.  Guide us by your Spirit to be healers in this world.  In the precious name of Jesus our Lord, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret