BROKEN DOORS

My fix-it list includes this tired-out door to a backyard tool shed. It was already old when re-purposed there and exposed to the extremes of weather. Sometimes when I'm outside moving hoses to water the nearby lawn, I think of the classic painting of Jesus knocking at the door of our hearts. (1) The artist's rendition of the door actually looked quite stout, which may not have been true in Bible times. Probably the artist was trying to convey how hard-hearted some people are to letting the Savior come and change their lives.

Doors are a powerful symbol. A quick look at scriptural doors:

*Doors of hospitality. Job speaking: “My door was always open to the traveler” (Job 31:30).

*Doors of weighing words. King David: “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3).

*Doors of private prayer, the counsel of Jesus: “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen” (Matthew 6:5).

*Doors of earnest prayer: “Ask....seek...knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

*Doors of conversion (missions report by Paul and Barnabas): “They reported...how he [God] had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27).

*Doors of spiritual opportunity (reported by Paul): “I will stay on at Ephesus...because a great door for effective work has opened to me” (1 Corinthians 16:9). “When I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ [I] found that the Lord had opened a door for me” (2 Corinthians 2:12).

Back to the classic artist's rendition of this analogy, illustrating Revelation 3:20:

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 him, and he with me. (NIV)

Commentators suggest this is a picture of the church at the end of the ages, when true faith has been muddied by those who strayed from the stark and hard message of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. They've repeated the sin of the Laodicean church, “neither hot nor cold.” Lukewarm faith, busy with life's treasures and pleasures and low in spiritual passion (Revelation 3:15-17).

Or maybe my shed's broken door symbolizes people so eroded by life's pleasures and trials that they'd crumble when touched by a nail-pierced Hand. But the Bible offers a hope not found in the natural deterioration of earth's things. John's vision of heaven included this triumphant sketch of “He who was seated on the throne”: “I am making everything new” (Revelation 21:5).

Something to think about. What does the door of my life look like? Is it scarred, battered and unwelcoming? Or renewed in Christ, and welcoming?

1. Image and story here: Christ at Heart’s Door | The Warner Sallman Collection