Read: Amos 7:1-9:15, Revelation 3:7-22, Psalm 131:1-3, Proverbs 29:23

Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. (Revelation 3:20)

Relate: I love having guests over to my house. I love cooking for people. I love the fellowship and the camaraderie that can take place as we sit at the couches or around the table and just hang out and talk. There is a fellowship and an intimacy that goes deeper in someone’s home than what might happen if we were to just go out to a coffee shop or something.

The problem is, I’m not always the cleanest person in the world and I’m also not the most motivated person in the world. If you were to come over to my house right now, you would be able to tell how long it has been since I last had company by how clean my house is. I am not messy. (I used to be but I mostly got over that.) I’m not a slob. But little things… accumulate. I won’t be doing any dusting until I have to. I won’t be doing any sweeping unless something has spilled or until people are coming over. There’s a stack of junk mail sitting on my desk that hasn’t been sorted through in a while. My laundry is probably a bit overdue. All this will be taken care of quick if I were to have someone coming over, but I probably won’t be inviting people until I am motivated enough to clean. My social life suffers from my laziness.

Respond: I wonder how often the same can be said of our spiritual life? When Jesus said he was standing at the door knocking, he was speaking to the church, not the sinner. He was talking to the lukewarm church who thinks it is rich but in reality is poor, naked, destitute, and blind. He is talking to us. We might think we have it all together, but there are some little things we have let… accumulate. Our Bible reading isn’t quite where it should be. Our prayer life is too short, too full of our talking, and not rich in listening or simply resting in His presence. We have let the busyness of the Christmas season crowd out the wonder and the beauty of the incarnation. We are a mess.

And Jesus is standing on the outside knocking. If you’re like me, you often aren’t going to let Him in right away. Maybe you’re smarter than that, but often I’m trying to clean my heart up first. And Jesus is standing on the outside knocking. I have to sweep some things up, hide some things in the closet, and make sure everything is right first. And Jesus is standing on the outside knocking. It is long past time I open that door first. It is time we let Him back in. Let us spend this season walking with Christ. We have left Him too long out in the cold.

Respond: 

God, I repent of my apathy. I’m so sorry for letting those little things accumulate. I’m sorry for those times I’ve let you stand out in the cold knocking. Help me to be quick to open the door. Help me to be willing to show off every room in this mess I call a heart. In those moments when I am hesitant to open, please kick that door in. Invade my life with Your presence. Let me live out the rest of this season, the rest of this year, the rest of my life, in fellowship with You.