One Saturday morning, the solicitors were back in our neighborhood again, persistent as ever. They rang the doorbell, knocked, shouted out a series of hellos, and waited for me to answer the door.
I had too much to do that day. I did not want to be bothered, so I ignored the knocks. I knew they would eventually move on if I just waited.
Our Lord, Jesus Christ, often stands at our front door, knocks, and waits for an answer. Yes, his gentle thumps can be hard to hear at times, but he makes it our choice to either swing open the door or ignore him.
Sometimes Jesus’ quiet knocks come by way of our brothers and sisters who are homeless, suffering, and alone. They are seeking help from you and me. When we reach out to them, we answer his knock and allow him, and those he places in our lives, to enter the door to our hearts — the selfless heart that God placed in us when we received Jesus into our lives.
We cannot close our ears to Christ’s steady knocks and think he will give up. He never will. Jesus wants us to welcome him in with hearts hungering to spend time with him. And when we invite him into our hearts, our Savior will open heaven’s door to us, the one that someday leads to our journey home.
Lord, I am often too focused on my to-do list. Help me from blocking out your knocks. Instead, let your gentle and persistent knocks at the door of my heart be a valuable reminder to stop and pay attention to you. Amen.
Go Deeper — Have you ever ignored the Lord’s knocking? What happened or didn’t happen?
Photo Credit: Thiago Palia