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Writer's pictureEddie Cox

Open Door

‭‭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 dine with him, and he with Me.“ ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭3‬:‭20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬


This image of Jesus standing at the door knocking is actually a really interesting picture. It’s a picture that would be familiar to anyone in the culture. It’s an image of someone wanting to come in for dinner. It would have been considered rude and inhospitable to not let them in.

In other words, this image is kind of a punch in the gut to the Laodicean church. The church, God’s people, have left Jesus standing outside. Culturally that’s a big deal.


Have you ever wondered why Jesus doesn’t just force His way in? Why He doesn’t just make us do what he wants? What’s the point of just standing at the door and knocking? He has the power, and the right, to kick it in.


Why does the creator of the universe choose to wait for our response? We can’t miss this. Permission is sacred. Jesus chooses this path because He desires intententional intimacy with His creation. A relationship of mutual choosing. Where there’s not permission there cannot be love. Love cannot be forced, it has to be granted permission.


We know this, don’t we? In a culture where the powerful and elite think they can take what they want, we understand the depth of permission. We understand the violation of no permission. It it refreshing that the creator of the universe, the one who could take anything He wants, rather gives His creation the power of permission?


An unexpected knock at your  door from a dear friend or family member is a welcome surprise. Few occasions are as precious as seeing a long absent loved one who comes to visit. “Here I am.”  they say as you open your door, and their presence fills 

You with joy.


Jesus stands at our door, knocking. We may think sometimes that He is far removed from us and our church bodies. But He is, by His own revelation, as close as the door to our homes and our church communities. He wants us to hear His knocking, He’s that close. He wants us to respond and open all the closed doors in our lives.


Maybe you are afraid to open the door of your life to Jesus. After all, how does one welcome the Son of God Almighty, into their whole life? Or maybe just having Jesus inside your heart is as close as you want Him to be. But Jesus keeps knocking, eager for us to open our lives to Him. He wants to be as close as a beloved friend in our lives. Do not worry about how to welcome Jesus in. Just open the door. He promises to take care of the rest.


He will come in and celebrate with whoever opens the door. He will bring joy in abundance so that your life will be filled with even more than the greatest feasting, fun, and goodness of life you could imagine.


Jesus doesn't knock on the doors of our hearts and lives so He can have a superficial, distant, one way relationship with us. Whereby we are constantly looking over our shoulder at all of life's distractions. Jesus is inviting us into an intimate relationship with Him through faith. He died and rose again so we can have a personal, forever relationship with God. He wants to sup with us and us with Him.


The message for us today is similar to the church in Laodicea. I think we’ve bought into the same lie they did. We think we have everything we need.  When we are faced with the fact that we think if we just had more money, a better president, that law passed, or whatever then we will be alright.

But the reality is we are fooling ourselves. We are hopeless on our own. We need Jesus! Desperately! I think the picture for us is the same. Jesus is standing at our “door” knocking. He won’t bust in, he’s waiting for an invitation.


Remember, permission is sacred. We have a choice. Let Jesus in and face the process of transformation. Or keep him at arms length, play it safe, but never experience the life He wants for you.


Inviting Jesus in is giving Him permission to dig around in our life and find dead parts, the bad parts, the ugly parts, and redeem them. While on one hand that sounds like good news and it is, but it’s also painful. So many avoid it!!!


Father, thank You for this day and for Your unfailing love that sustains us thru it. Lord, let Your abundant blessings be my friend and family's portion today. Lord, what a gift of love and honor You bring by knocking at our door. Lord, come in and transform us by Your presence. Thank You for speaking to us through Your Word. Lord, keep us from discarding Your request to allow You to enter our hearts, bring peace to our minds, and to change our lives forever. Lord, use us to be the light in a dark world today.


Father, we love You.  Amen !

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