Commenting on a situation involving a person seeking assistance, who said, “Rev., we live under the same roof but we stay in different parts of the house,” a minster noted that, “No one knows what goes on behind a closed door.” I had a flashback when a colleague walked into my office and said, “Rev., I need to talk with you; can I sit?” I said “Yes!” After about ten seconds, the colleague suddenly asked, “Can I shut the door?” I answered in the affirmative. An open door and a closed door each says different things. In my office I have an “Open-Door Policy”, but in my bedroom I have a “Closed-Door Policy”.
Many organizations have an Open-Door Policy. This means that the door is always open (literally or figuratively) for communication and complaints. Where there is an Open-Door Policy, workers know that there is an avenue for all issues to be addressed, and that they should never believe or feel there is no one to turn to.
It is fair to say that God practises and desires an Open-Door Policy. Jesus said, “For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:8, NRSV). According to John, God said to the Church at Laodicea, “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 that person, and they with me” (Rev. 3:20).
When we ask of God, God is ready and willing to open the “door” for us so we can enter and share our deepest and dearest concerns. The “Door” is never locked to any of God’s children, no matter how much we have fallen short; neither does God want to be locked out of our lives and affairs. When God comes knocking we must open.
Only in exceptional cases will God engage in “forced entry”. On the occasion when “it was evening on…, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19) Jesus had to and could enter without permission. However, that is not his custom.
Neither does God lock us out, because God is an amazingly welcoming God who opens the door before we knock. May we always approach God’s open door and be healed by God’s love. God’s Open-Door Policy encouraged Joseph Scriven to write:
Oh Yes! I do close my door if I desperately need a “power nap” or a quick bite. Hey! That’s another point where God parts company with me. God “never slumbers nor sleeps” and God never needs “a quick bite”.
Thought: God’s Open-Door Policy is a two-way street.
Only in exceptional cases will God engage in “forced entry”. On the occasion when “it was evening on…, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19) Jesus had to and could enter without permission. However, that is not his custom.
Neither does God lock us out, because God is an amazingly welcoming God who opens the door before we knock. May we always approach God’s open door and be healed by God’s love. God’s Open-Door Policy encouraged Joseph Scriven to write:
What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh Yes! I do close my door if I desperately need a “power nap” or a quick bite. Hey! That’s another point where God parts company with me. God “never slumbers nor sleeps” and God never needs “a quick bite”.
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