“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
Slow down.
Take a breath. Sit at your desk, or perhaps on the edge of your bed, somewhere
quiet where you can be alone with your thoughts. Stop what you are doing for a
moment and breathe. Be intentional. Knock.
Knock and
call out to Jesus. Not a knock followed by a shout of “Is anyone home?” Knock
and wait. The Word of God is clear: knock, and the door will be opened to you.
Have you
ever gone to someone's house and knocked on the door without any hope that
anyone would answer? How ridiculous would it be to knock on a door when you
know there is nobody home? It is one thing to knock, hoping that someone will
hear you and open the door, but it is quite another to knock when there is
absolutely no chance of an answer because the house is empty.
This is not
what is afforded to the Christian. We are not knocking on the door of an empty
house. Our great heavenly Father is there, and He has promised that the door
will be opened to us. Not because we have somehow scored brownie points by the
way we have conducted ourselves, or because we have earned the right to enter,
but because of what Jesus Christ accomplished on our behalf.
We must
never overlook this reality. I think we can sometimes become so caught up in
the busyness of life, our circumstances, and even our own shortcomings that we
forget what has been made available to us through Christ. We approach our
Father as though we must somehow make ourselves worthy before we can come to
Him. But that is not what the Gospel teaches.
Hebrews
4:16 tells us, “Let us then with confidence draw
near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help
in time of need.”
Notice
those words with confidence, not with arrogance, and certainly not because we
believe we deserve anything, but with confidence in Jesus Christ, my Lord. He
has made the way for us to approach the Father. His sacrifice was sufficient,
and our confidence rests entirely on what He has done.
So, this
morning, I knocked. As I sat quietly, I was once again reminded of the
accomplishments of my beloved Saviour, Jesus Christ, my Lord. Not something I achieved
or earned, but something He did for me.
I just want
to say thank you, Lord, for your sacrifice. Thank you, Father, for sending your
Son to die in my place. And thank you, my God, for sending the Holy Spirit to
make these truths clear to my mind and to remind me of what Jesus Christ has
accomplished.
Perhaps
that is what we need to do more often. Stop, take a breath, set aside the noise
around us, and spend time seeking our great heavenly Father. We have His
promise. We are not knocking on an empty house, wondering whether anyone will
answer. We knock because Jesus has told us to knock, and He has promised that
the door will be opened.
So be
intentional. Knock and wait. Remember what Christ has done on your behalf and
give thanks to the Father who sent Him.
Signing off
Tyrone
Scripture References: Matthew 7:7, Hebrews 4:16
