“Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20

This past Sunday we talked about balance in three areas of life: UPWARD – our relationship with God, INWARD – our relationship to other believers and OUTWARD – our relationship to the world. We discovered that Jesus maintained this three-fold balance in his life, too. Since Jesus maintained balance: upward, inward and outward; as Jesus’ life is expressed in and through us, we can expect a similar balance to emerge.

So let’s talk about your relationship with God!

In Revelation 3:20 Jesus pictures relationship with him in this way:

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

What a beautiful picture of a daily walk with God! Jesus wants to come in and share a meal with you!  To the ancient Jew, there was nothing more intimate than eating together. Friends, family, and even strangers fell under the rules of hospitality. Because the climate was so hostile and people had limited resources, the evening meal became a special place of relaxed conversation, sharing, eating and celebration for everyone (see Genesis 18:1-8).  To this day in many Middle Eastern households, if you knock on the door, you will be invited in for refreshment. There is no way around it. To refuse is to create offense!

So, this is what our gentle Savior does. On a daily basis…he knocks on the door of your life and asks to come in…to be welcomed into your decisions, your struggles, your thoughts. To participate in your conversations, your joys and your pain.  He WANTS to come in.  He wants to be a part of your life! He wants to hear from you and let you hear from him.  He wants to speak words of comfort and challenge, to provide wisdom and guidance. But it doesn’t just happen automatically. We must hear his voice and choose to open the door. He won’t force his way in; he won’t make us sit down with him. But he will knock. Can you hear his voice?   

Now, let me be clear…in the most literal sense, Jesus is already on the inside.  When you accepted Christ as Savior, he moved in. The old has gone; the new has come (1 Corinthians 5:17). You are in Christ and Christ is in you. That will never change. But on an experiential level, you control the door – you can hear his call and engage in intimate fellowship with God or you can maintain distance and live life out of your own strength and resources.  Which is it for you?

Are you daily inviting Jesus to share life with you? Do you open the door and participate in his life? Does he speak to you (through his Spirit and the Bible) and do you speak to him? Or is your relationship with God more like a business partnership, or reading an instruction manual…or non-existent?

Jesus is knocking at the door asking to be let in…to you LIFE!  What are you waiting for?