Luke 13:25 –
When the master of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. You will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
I hear this and first hope I have kept my end of the deal up! Man this salvation thing can get spooky some time when you really start to think about it! What if you can lose your salvation? What if you did not do it “right”? You read passages like this and wonder sometimes if that “narrow door” (from the previous verse) Jesus is talking about is something you will fit through. Did I really give my heart to Jesus or am I being like the Pharisees and just going through the motions? I fell like Charlie Brown and want to yell “Arrrggggghhhh”!!
Now I also read hope in this and you just need to go to Jonah to get it. Jonah was told to go tell Nineveh that their time was up and it’s “curtains for them” (keeping with cartoon quotes this morning). Well he ran for this and God kept pushing him back, so finally he give the message. What happens next?? The people weep and repent, because of this God is moved and spares the city of the destruction he told Jonah to prophesize. Unfortunately, Jonah got mad at God and went in a corner to pout! I can’t imagine Jesus doing this if God opened the narrow door wider.
Ultimately what does this mean for you and me? Do we need to go through the motions and hope it sticks? You need to look into your heart and see what is actually going on before this question can really be answered. And honestly for me I feel bi-polar in my relationship with God. Sometimes it’s obvious and other times I’m questioning. Honestly that’s normal, life is often “not fair” and we need to step back to see the big picture. In the heat of life’s this and that, our questions often turn to “why God?” Much of the time this devotional is just “going through the motions” when quickly I get smacked with some truth I just read. Justin gave a great teaching at Waters Edge on cycles of planting good seeds vs. bad. I don’t think he emphasized enough that sometimes planting good seeds have up and down cycles, just not as radical as mixing bad seeds. But we need to be steadfast in our studies and our prayers to keep that relationship fresh!