by Micah Messer
Does it feel like sin is always sending you an invitation of temptation? It waits for you at work, the mall, and the home, where lazy coworkers ask you to be dishonest, carnal friends invite you to the bars and clubs, and unsaved family want you to skip church. It waits for you on the internet, radio and television, where you can look and listen to unwholesome entertainment. Does it seem like sin is around every corner and behind every door? It is.
In Genesis 4:17, God said, Sin lies at the door. Sin desires to destroy you. Sin awaits to attack you. Although I’ve learned in life that sin is always at the door, I’ve also discovered Jesus is the Door. Jesus said, I Am the Door to the sheepfold (John 10:7,9). Shepherds kept the flocks in sheepfolds to protect their sheep from wild animals. Since the door was the one entrance and exit into the sheepfold, a wild animal would have to first get through the door to get to the sheep. Like a crouching lion waiting to pounce on an innocent lamb, sin lies at the door, but sin has to come through Jesus to get to you. As long as you are behind the Door, Jesus is between you and the enemy.
Jesus is the Door that opens other doors. He said, See I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it (Rev 3:8). He rewarded the Philadelphia church for their faithfulness to His Word by opening doors that no one else could shut. God has specific plans for your future, plans for your hope not your harm (Jer 29:11). Jesus opens the doors to the right person to marry, the right job to work, and the right church to attend. He opens doors to a bigger, brighter, and better future.
The Apostle Paul wrote, Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, a door was opened to me by the Lord (2 Cor 2:12). With his doors of opportunity, Paul also faced doors of opposition. For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries (1 Cor 16:9). Although Paul may have been delayed, he was not discouraged; he was determined. He knew that Jesus is the Door that opens doors no man can shut. He also knew Jesus is the Door that closes doors no man can open. After God shut the door of the Ark, no one could open it (Gen 7:16).
Sometimes Jesus closes doors in your life for your own good. He shuts the doors of dangerous relationships and friendships. He slams to door to temptation. Are you having problems saying no when sin lies at your door? The world offers us doors of opposition when the Lord opens doors of opportunity. Instead of taking the open door to Nineveh, Jonah took a revolving door. After a ship to Tarsus and three days in the belly of a whale, he ended up right back where he said no to God. Instead of taking the open door of a promised Child, Sarah took a swinging door. She grew impatient waiting for a child to be born through her so she gave her handmaiden to Abraham. After Ishmael and Isaac were born, the two nations from those boys are still at war with one another today. Instead of taking the open door of waiting on Samuel, King Saul took the trap door of making the sacrifices himself. It led to him loosing the kingdom to another. Do you have problems with revolving doors, swinging doors, and trap doors? Do you have difficulty with doors of opposition when God gives you doors of opportunity?
Have you opened the door of your heart to Jesus? He says, Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me (Rev 3:18). Answer the knocking on the door to your heart and allow Jesus to become the Door in your life. And the next time sin lies outside to destroy you, Jesus will say “I’ll get the door.”
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