Yesterday, I woke up at 3:40am after hearing the doorbell ring twice. Kevin headed to the door and I was worried about pending danger. The thing is, when I woke up, I realized the door bell and Kevin headed to do the door were both a dream. My husband was still sound asleep beside me. But the fear I felt in that moment, woke me up. I immediately thought of an episode of Criminal Minds (a show I stopped watching when I had kids because the reality of the scripts were too real for me to process). This episode of Criminal Minds was about a serial killer that approached people's front door with the ruse of a broken down vehicle, then used the open door to kill.
As I sat up awake, I began to think about the front door. That front door we all have with the cute wreath and Amazon packages out piled high can bring so many things into your home and ultimately, your life. It can bring danger, it can bring a stranger, it can bring a package or a friend or family member. Until we look through the glass or eye hole, we don't know what is at our front door. We have a chose to open the door, ignore it or in emergency situations call the police.
The front door is our gate to decide who we let in and who we keep out. Our home is our domain and who we let in is important. It can offer us joy and safety, annoyance, an opportunity to help or receive or it can bring fear. Depending upon who is at the door, depends on what can happen.
Then I started thinking of Jesus. Yes, Jesus is close to most thoughts. I had a classmate ask me in high school keyboarding class if my password for class was Jesus, so obviously, that fact that I love Jesus, isn't a secret. By the way, my password was cheese - ha! Okay, I got off topic. Do you know what word picture Jesus uses when he talks about a relationship with you and me? You got it. Its a door.
Romans 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."
Jesus offers us the opportunity to have a relationship with him and he approaches us and allows us to decide if we will grant him access to our lives. We get to choose. I don't know about you (or even if we are on the same page here), but I love serving a God who is a gentleman; a God who lets me choose him. But seriously guys, Jesus at the front door is an amazing reality! Can you imagine your favorite human hero or celebrity rolling up at your house and tapping at your front door? What kind of reaction would that spawn? Yet here the Bible tells us that Jesus, who is God, always was and always will be God, at your door! We have an opportunity to connect with the Creator of the Universe, knocking on our door! Crazy cool!!! He loves each of us just because we are his creation and he wants to know each of us!
What do you want for your life? We have all kinds of choices and sometimes we act like we don't have a choice, but we do. After being a Christian for awhile we take for granted the huge opportunity we have to connect with Jesus, but that opportunity is there. Will you take it? Will you open the door?
This morning I had the pleasure of connecting with a young woman that God placed on my path several years ago. We discovered our mutual love for theatre and Jesus. As we reconnected over coffee and conversation interrupted intermittently by my two-year old, we entered into a spiritual conversation on fear that I wanted to share with you.
Often, we can walk through life in fear that, as we face crossroads, we will pick the wrong way. Life choices like the city you live in, the job you take and the person you marry can fill your heart with anxiety, well if you are anything like me it can.
Yes, God has a plan and we can trust him to guide us, but hearing his voice isn't an exact science and the reality of that unknown can fill our hearts with fear. The truth is - it doesn't need to. We can trust God and if, please note the "if" here, we are seeking God we will find him. Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call to me and I will show you great and unsearchable things that you do not know." We can take that promise to the bank.
Sometimes we spend time seeking God in our prayer and Bible times, and we look for that green light to go forward. While that is wisdom, making the choice often comes with some uncertainty.
If you have seen the movie BFG, you will recall the scene when BFG leaves Sofie back at the orphanage to protect her from the other giants. After realizing she isn't in a dream, she goes out onto the balcony, calls to BFG, asks him to catch her, closes her eyes and jumps.
He in fact does catch her. She was able to jump because she knew BFG and she knew he loved her.
We must know God and know his love to have the faith to jump. But when we do, we can trust God will catch us.
I remember my sophomore year Bible class in high school at Dayton Christian. My teacher, Mr. Pittman, told us a story of having to decide which school to attend. He was seeking God in the direction and made his choice. As he was about to head out, he got a call that changed his course. He used this illustration to show that sometimes you have to make a step in one direction, and know that if its not the direction God is leading, then God is big enough to change the course. But often we have to take a step in faith and not allow fear to paralyze us.
Fear is not of God (2 Timothy 1:7). God is love.
We can't allow the unknown to hold us back, but with the love and wisdom of God, we should feel freedom to propel forward in life.
Sofie doesn't allow fear to hold her back, not just with the leap of faith from that balcony but as the story continues on. She stands for what is right in the face of those man eating giants.
I don't know what your man eating giants are or the crossroads you face, but I know the God who created us, the God who died for us and the God who seeks to love us at all costs. That kind of love will sustain you and protect you as you venture on in life. It doesn't mean you won't encounter challenges but truthfully, I can take courage in knowing that by serving Jesus, my Savior, I have confidence to step out in life. The worst thing that can happen to me is death but even if someone takes my life, they can't take away my freedom in Christ and the life after this that he has promised me as his child.
Go out and do great things with God at the helm of your life ship. Seek him, find him and conquer this world. We are living for things far greater than the crossroads we encounter!!
