Monday, September 26, 2016
“Write this
letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the
Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s new creation: “I know all the things you do, that you are
neither hot nor cold. I wish that you
were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm
water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched
and miserable and poor and blind and naked. So I advise
you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will
not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able
to see. I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your
indifference. “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. Those who are victorious will sit with me on
my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne. “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the
Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.” Revelation 3:14-22(NLT)
An open door is a
metaphor that can take you in more than one direction. An open door can be an opportunity, or it could
be an invitation at work to go to the boss for frank discussion anytime.
An open door can also be the symbol
of confidence someone expresses in the possibilities of friendship and
community; you are welcome here anytime!
The context here makes this kind of warm invitation a really strange
one. After all, the risen Lord Jesus is telling
John to tell the Laodicean church their lukewarmness made him sick!
Lukewarm friendship; how does that
work for you?
Okay, so everyone can see this invitation
is preceded by a warning – I’ll spit you out of my mouth! Cold water works, hot coffee works, but
neither is good lukewarm. My wife likes
iced coffee, sugar-free, vanilla, non-fat, yada, yada, yada. Give me hot, black, no sugar and I’m ok. If I forget my coffee for an hour and absent-mindedly
take a sip, I’m really close to my Jesus imitation; can’t stand tepid coffee; nothing
more nauseating!
So there’s the caution against
cooling off, or warming down – lukewarm indifference.
And there’s an invitation of strong
friendship – dinner and a movie with Jesus.
And it’s conditional – turn from that
indifference; accept the correction Jesus offers and the open door thing is
going to happen. And the key to it all
is in our hands, because it’s our door….the door to each of our hearts.
And that door is only opened from the
inside…like any common house door lock, you must be willing to open your heart
to God; He will not pick that lock like a burglar…He waits for you to accept
His invitation to open the door.
He calls, but He won’t beat down the
door! He will step inside when you are
ready to get white-hot for him!
For You Today
When I was very young we didn’t have
a lock on the front door. Friends and
neighbors were pretty much welcome to open the door and come on in.
Is that the kind of open
door policy you have with Jesus?
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NOTES
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