25 August 2013 - open door

25 August 2013 - open door

After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,
then will you stand outside knocking and saying,
‘Lord, open the door for us.’

The invitation of the LORD is time sensitive.  This door is one which only Jesus can open.  Once it is closed, either by the end of our lives or the second coming, it cannot be reopened for us.  He doesn't do this to be arbitrary.  He does it because he insists that we ultimately make a decision either for or against the salvation which he generously offers.  We can choose to love him freely or not.  But this choice carries eternal consequences.

We should not think it unfair.  We have no right to the sacrifice of the cross.  Do we really think to tell Jesus that he owes us all of his suffering?  Of course he doesn't.  He does it in freedom and love for us all.  Delaying the cross indefinitely would have been the same thing as choosing against us.  It is in the same freedom which he wants us to return his love.  But time is running out.  To not decide in the face of such a great love is the same as deciding against it.

‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’
Then he will say to you,
‘I do not know where you are from. 
Depart from me, all you evildoers!’

If many will show up to the door to find it locked by the master it isn't because the master doesn't invite them.

and I come to gather nations of every language;
they shall come and see my glory. 

He longs to be known by everyone.  If it grieves us to know that not all will be saved it grieves him still more.  He wants us to have a heart for the world like his heart.

Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

The Good News is of Jesus's death and resurrection.  He suffers the consequence that we cannot bear.  He rises to the new life which we cannot attain.  And he shares this with us by destroying sin in us.  He brings us from death to eternal life and joy in the presence of the Father.

Sometimes we face challenges along the way.  But they must not cause us to turn aside and delay until the door is locked.  These challenges are meant to help us to grow in relationship with our Father in heaven.

For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline?
At the time,
all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain,
yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness
to those who are trained by it.

May we be strengthened to run headlong for the door while it remains open!  May we bring as many within us as he enables us to bring!

So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. 
Make straight paths for your feet,
that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed.