Open the Door | Ed’s Inspirations
Parables are stories that sometimes hide truth in plain sight. I’ve come to love parables because I, for one, have to dig hard, to pick at them, to mull over them until they yield a nugget. Very occasionally a truth is coaxed out by my dull brain and crusted heart and that is a lovely reward. My prayer is that you would find the truth beyond my words and that your heart could receive what God intended.
Luke 12:35-38, NLT:
“Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes he will reward the servants who are ready”
These words might have larger implications regarding the ultimate coming of God and our preparedness for that reality but I’ve chosen to put a shine on the here and now. In the preceding 20 verses Jesus talks about the proper and the improper positioning of the heart, with the overall assessment that the heart will be devoted to the desires it holds (verse 34). Or Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.)
That we would be dressed for service, that we would keep our lamps burning implies a readiness for the masters return. When the master comes back from the wedding we want to be awake so we can open the door for him. So we wait in wakefulness, the hour might be late or even at dawn (unpredictable). We should be ready to serve him when he arrives. I see this as an opportunity as well as a warning. Did I miss him because my heart was joined to other things I treasure? Jesus contrasts the foolishness of greed with the wisdom of having a rich relationship with God. Dressed for service is to make Him our treasure. This is not primarily a word to condemn but rather encouragement to listen for his footsteps as he comes up the stairs.This can be seen with a longview but also part of our daily journey. We could be reminded of the words in
Rev 3:20, NLT:
“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends”.
Then, more amazing words: He knocks and waits for us to open the door! He is the master, probably the owner of the house, why would he not just walk in and display his privilege, power and station in life? Well the facts are that he not only waits for us to open the door but he comes in and puts on an apron and serves us the servants (Oh, He calls us His friends here) in a display of unprecedented generosity, grace and respect for our personhood. What?! This is an astounding, otherworldly truth. We couldn’t have seen that coming and in fact this is truth that needs revelation. Our own hubris would shame us in our misunderstanding of this wonderful God-action. That is not His intention, it’s not! This feels more like a partnership than ownership! We easily fall into thinking we are the ones who have to look for God, when it is the other way around. He is the one looking for us.
My prayer for us is that we might see that the Great Love within God (the Trinity) is a love that desires to be shared, that He longs to share. Isaiah tells us God longs to be gracious to us, and that while we are adulterers! Way early in God's story is a moment of betrayal that was colossal in scope. In Genesis 3:13: God asks Adam and Eve “What is this you have done”? This was a heart wrenching betrayal of love.The prophets have expressed the anguished heart of God in this. The problem is love; it gave us such staggering freedom. We ran into darkness thinking we could hide, only to find the loving arms of God there. Especially there! So Love was also the solution. Opening the door isn’t simply inviting the Lord into your life once. It is recognizing His knock anytime, anywhere. Can we believe that this great love will find a way to our hearts? We can bank on the fact of God's kind intentions, and it is not a matter of our persistence but of His invitation. As I struggle with feeling God's nearness, I sometimes ask “Do you really care”? May God help us open the door, daily. It is a start! He hasn’t given up. Nope! On you? No! Never…..never! Wait for Him.