REVELATION 3:20

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

TO PONDER:

"I do it myself!" I don't think there is a parent around that has not heard that phrase from a child who thinks they can do it all on their own! There is a part of each one of us that loves to be self-sufficient. To think we can manage on our own. These words were written to the Church in Laodicea - not unbelievers - but the people of God who were living in a resource rich area and who were living comfortable lives. Sound familiar? The people thought they could provide for themselves. When an earthquake destroyed their city in 60AD, they refused to receive help from the Roman Empire, and insisted that they fund the rebuild themselves! That attitude of self-sufficiency had also spilled over into the Church setting. They thought they could do everything themselves and so had no need for Jesus in their lives. In effect, they had shut the door on Jesus and left him outside and were living their lives apart from him. Jesus doesn't force his way into our lives...he could...he is all powerful. But from the very beginning, God wants intimacy with his creation, with you. He wants a relationship of mutual choosing that is built on love. So Jesus today is asking you to think about where you are living from an attitude of self-sufficiency; where you are saying, "I do it myself!"

Will you invite Jesus in? Will you invite him into your life, your day, your decisions, your finances to allow him to do work in your life? Will you allow him to transform you to be more like him? That might be painful. There may be parts of your life that he asks you to let go of? There may be certain areas where you need to admit that you have shut him out or not given him access to that part. Opening the door to Jesus is inviting him in and giving him permission to dig around in your life, to find what is broken, dead and ugly so that he can redeem it and make it new; so you can experience fullness of life with him! Will you answer his knock and allow him in today?

PRAYER:

Lord Jesus, forgive me when I have shut you out of my life. I admit that as much as I would like to think I can, that I can't do life by myself. I know you love me Jesus, so I give you permission to do whatever you need to do, to make me more like you. Amen.

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