Where Do You Find the Door to Shelter?
Good Morning Friends,
In today’s scripture from Matthew, Jesus gives a disclaimer about being a follower of Christ….being one of his disciples. It is not an easy road following Jesus. Oh it is worth it don’t get me wrong, but this is not easy. The Yoke is easy but the work and challenges…on my! You see there are many doors in our lives. We take most of them for granted. Some give us admittance, others obstruction and still others protection. How we view these doors is important for there will be days when we will feel like we cannot take another step on the journey and we will need entrance through a door we cannot open. Today we take an honest look at the door Jesus opens. Where Do You Find The Door to Shelter?
Scripture: A scribe then approached and said, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’
Matthew 8:19-20 (NRSV)
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
John 10:9 (NIV)
Each will be like a hiding-place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
Isaiah 32:2 (NRSV)
[The LORD] will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
Psalm 91:4 (NIV)
Let me abide in your tent forever, find refuge under the shelter of your wings.
Selah
Psalm 61:4 (NRSV)
Message: It is not easy being a disciple of Christ because association with God’s kingdom means sharing in Jesus’ suffering and rejection. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus has to understand that discipleship requires total commitment especially through life’s storms.
Still Jesus will give us strong and steady help and an emotional shelter along the way that is a bit of the promise of our salvation. Thankfully God understands when we have had enough. I was thinking of this in regards to Jimmy Carter and the decisions he faces being 90 and with cancer. Maybe Jesus is knocking at his door seeking entrance right now. Honestly there is a wearing away of the frame in the household of each man. We can ask God to engineer our gateway to life so that our coming in and going out is not impeded, but we misunderstand God’s ways. We ask God to open new doors for us but miss the point. The problem is that many, maybe even most people, really do not believe that Jesus is the door for our lives. Even we as disciples want Him to enter our door and stop there instead of us entering His. As the handles and knobs on our doors get worn out we just seek to replace them. Even if we are lucky enough to avoid the really bad stuff, the paint still peals and death also knocks at the door. Our body, family, community, and even our legacy all wear away. But there is another door. Here we stop fighting the divine control built into the fabric of the universe and discover that the key to protection from the decay of this life is to get a transformed life. We have to choose a new door, for the door of the world only leads to destruction. Friends, when we are weary, enter into God’s shelter. When our days of service have come to an end, enter in and let God show you the door of new life. We need to learn to appreciate the presence of God…to appreciate His shadow and protection in the storms of life. We need to grow in faith even as we find refuge in Him. Friends, Jesus is the door to both rest and shelter. Find a home here and grow in the faith. Friends, God is our shelter and strength so that we need not be afraid. God gives us a door that leads to life…a door to our eternal home. But God heals too and maybe it is His will the Jimmy Carter lives to be 110.
Pray Jimmy Carter chooses the door that Jesus opens. Pray that
we all, in God’s time, enter His rest but also His work. Pray we enter and never shut the open doors of opportunity, unity and service. Pray that our duties faithfully preformed lead to greater opportunities. Pray we be more than a willing vessel of temporary service. Pray we abide with Christ forever understanding that He stands at the door. Pray we accept every divine overture. Pray we open the door of our lives to Christ. Pray we pass through that door of service in community. Pray we come to the door of heaven and Christ recognizes and ushers us into His home. Pray here we realize that Jesus is our Sabbath rest. Pray that on the appointed day we turn to the shelter of God’s loving arms and find rest that is timeless. Pray that Jesus is our Rock in a weary land and a shelter in the time of storms. Pray we realize that being in the center of God’s will is a place of shelter and peace. Pray we realize that we cannot avoid the storms of life but that God is with us and will never ever leave us.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 