"I am the door: by me if any man enters in, he shall
be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."
John 10:9
All throughout the Bible there are different references made to doors, each having different meanings. Some are associated with given opportunities while others have to do with an opening into something much like an entry way. Here in the gospel of John, Jesus describes himself as being the door. We understand that he is the door that opens up to us the way of life.
But there is another aspect to the use of doors. You may recall when God accepted Abel's sacrifice and not Cain's. Because Cain became so angry, the Lord said to him, "Why are you wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door..." (Gen. 4:6, 7). The door that the Lord is referring to happens to be the door to a man's heart. I find it very interesting that Cain's anger had not yet become a heart issue, but was teetering on becoming such. This is most likely what Paul meant when he said, "Be angry and sin not; don't let the sun go down on your wrath" (Eph. 4:26). There can be times when your flesh is aroused to anger but has not yet become an act of sin. In other words, sin can lie at the door and still not have access into your life. It's when you open the door by letting it fester into more. That's when you give it an opportunity to enter in and become destructive.
Over in Revelations chapter three, Jesus addressed the church of Laodicea. In his message, he reprimanded the church because they had become lukewarm, where they lost their appetite for spiritual things, and no longer desired fellowshipping with the Lord. This is something we all have to be careful about. We can get so caught up with the busyness of life that we lose our spiritual appetite, or that we fail to spend quality time before the presence of the Lord. Jesus made a point to address this concern by explaining to them that he was standing outside desiring to enter in. Notice what he said to them: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Rev. 3:20). This may seem odd when you consider the fact that the Laodiceans were a church body. How could the church of Christ find their selves in a situation where the Lord is not standing on the inside, but rather standing on the outside? It may interest you to know that folks can swing open wide the door to a place called relationship, and yet, keep a tight fist over the door handle to a place called fellowship. In other words, they may very well believe in Christ as their Savior and Lord, but they aren't as willing to open up their life to the deeper aspects of a place of devotion and intimacy.
It is sort of like a person you invite into your home but you never offer them to come in and sit down. All you extend to them is to stand in the front foyer. How intimate can that be? If you want to welcome their presence, you must give them the right to pass into those rooms where you break bread and share communion with your family and friends. That's what we need to do when it comes to opening up our heart to Christ. We need to extend to him the full gratitude of a heart that welcomes his presence!
When Jesus identified himself as the door, he said, "...by me if any man enters in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture" (John 10:9). Once again we see a picture of the contrasting conditions of relationship and fellowship. We can enter into a life in Christ and find salvation, but stop there. Or, we can choose to enter into that salvation where we go in and out and find pasture. Literally, this verse is saying, we can enter into a condition of heart where we find a place of fruitfulness, where the blessedness of fellowship affords us the deeper and richer place of communion and intimacy.
If all we do is see Jesus as the door "to" heaven we have missed something very valuable. He is not only the door to get us to heaven, but he is the door that opens up to us heaven. Through him we can find a heavenly hospitality that welcomes us into the secret place of the Most High. The Bible tells us, "Through him (Christ) we have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Eph. 2:18). This is the full benefit of entering the open door. We must make room in our hearts for Christ if we want to enjoy the fruitfulness of a heavenly life. He has entended his home (his heart) to us, now we must extend our home (our heart) to him!
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