“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” Revelation 3:20
I have known the verse since I was a little girl in Sunday school. I remember vividly looking at the picture of
Jesus standing at a closed door knocking.
I sang the song that went with the verse: (I even knew all the motions!)
In my innocent childlike mind I dreamt of Jesus knocking at
my hearts door, begging to come in and save me from my sins. I would look at the picture and see how
intently He was looking at the closed door.
To me it was the door of someone’s heart. I did not want it to be mine. I wanted Him to forgive me of all my sins and
to have an open heart’s door for Jesus.
Imagine my surprise, when I found out that verse is not
talking about salvation!. To me, Jesus
had knocked and years ago – I had answered the knock and let Him in. The door knocking was all done. Jesus was ‘in my heart’.
Christ does call men to be saved from their sins (“whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord – shall be saved!”). In the
context of this passage, however, we find the knocking Jesus standing outside
the door of Christians. This was a
letter written to a church - the church of Laodicea. It was the same church
that God described as lukewarm.
There have been times I have been lukewarm. Apathetic. The definition of apathy is: a lack of feeling or emotion, a lack of
interest of concern. Apathy happens
when what should have been ‘holy’ and reverent” becomes merely “habitual
and routine”. It’s when my quiet time
with the Lord isn’t worshiping Him; but rather just doing my time. It’s when I go to church because it something
that I have always done on Sunday’s.
Another week starting – another day for church. It’s easy for apathy to become the default
mode if you have lived the Christian life for a long time.
What causes us to become apathetic?
THE PROBLEMS
1. Self Sufficiency
We see in this passage that part of the church’s reason for
apathy was because “they were rich and increased with goods.” The passage says that their mindset was that
they did not need anything. Living in
prosperity is ripe ground for breeding apathy.
Compared to the rest of the world – American are a prosperous people. For the most part, we can get what we need –
and most of us have a LOT of what we want.
Many of the verses in Proverbs deal with riches and caution
the readers to be careful of how easy it is to fall into the traps that having
riches brings. In fact one Proverb words
it this way: “… give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for
me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and
say, Who is the LORD?...” When we
are void of needs - we cease seeing God as our provider.
Not always are our needs of a material nature. Sometimes we become self sufficient in our
Christian lives. Sometimes I forget that
I have spiritual needs. Sometimes I forget that I cannot live the Christian
life in my own strength. There have been
times in the past that I have lost sight of just how spiritually weak I
am. When my daily walk as a Christian is
done in my own strength I become lukewarm – apathetic. When I don’t see the need to depend upon God
in my day to day life, my heart grows cold.
2. Bad Eyesight
The letter to the church warned them that they were not
seeing themselves as they really were.
The fact that they had need of nothing had blinded their eyes in seeing
who they really were. They thought they
were fine; but God described them as “miserable, poor, blind, and naked”. To God they were shameful – but they
themselves thought they looked fine. They
were not seeing themselves the way God saw them – and they were missing a
lot! Spiritually, they were walking
around in utter shame. Imagine having your vision that off! (It’s like the classic story of the Emperor’s New Clothes; but from an eternal
perspective!)
Apathy blinds us to
spiritual truth and standing. So, what
is the solution to apathy?
THE INVITATION
“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.”
He is knocking at the hearts of His children calling them to
a life of sweet communion with Him. His
knocking is for us – His children. He
wants to have close fellowship with us!
He is knocking. Have you opened
the door to Him? He desires to come in and
dine with you. Jesus Christ is the cure
for apathy. Does He not regularly knock
upon our hearts and implore us to open the door for Him? Have you heard Him knocking?
One thing I noticed about the passage is that He does the
knocking; but it is my responsibility to open the door for Him to come in. Even though I am His child, Christ never
pushes Himself on me. He knocks and lets
me know His desire is to be with me – to fellowship with me; but it is I who
must open the door. How many times the
busyness of life has made me think I haven’t the time for a cup of tea with my
Savior. As long as the door stays shut –
as long as I am too busy to answer - He remains outside. The fellowship never happens. The relationship that could be deepening as I
get to know Him more – stays stagnant and unmoving. Lukewarm. While my Christian life could be vibrant and
exciting because I am in fellowship with His Spirit; I find myself apathetic - just
going through the motions.
Do you hear the
knocking? Have you responded? Invite Him in – He wants to fellowship with
you. Open the door – He will come
in! Find the time to enjoy your Guest –
you will never regret opening the door and inviting Him in. Never!
Thanks for stopping by, I am so glad you did!
Blessings,
~Martie
