In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” What is your relationship with this “Word”? Is it one of law-abiding compliance or spirit-filled liberty? Do you allow the Word to enter into you, set up camp, and rearrange the furniture as He sees fits, or do you keep Him at arms reach, afraid of what kind of overturning of the tables might occur if you fully opened the door and welcomed Him in?
“These people honor me with their words, but their hearts are far from me,” warned Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel. What is the state of your heart? Is it a fortress protecting your self-made prison of pride and self-reliance, or is it a garden where the Spirit of the Lord moves freely, planting the streams of life within the center of your being?
What stops you from flinging wide the gates of your soul and inviting the Living Word in?
Do you doubt His reality? Try Him–Ask in all sincerity for the author of life to make Himself known to you and see if He doesn’t answer.
Are you afraid that you will be uprooted, all sense of stability and security tossed aside as your attachments to that which will never satisfy are ripped away and replaced with the only thing that can?
Then again, perhaps you feel that surrender to Christ is too demanding, what with our never-ending to-do lists and earthly responsibilities. Again, try Him on for size. See if the creator of the universe transforms the very fabric of your life before your eyes so that the path to Him is made straight before you and all the trivial falls into place in His wake.
The indwelling presence of the Word is the pearl of great price, the treasure buried in the field. This is what Jesus pointed to again and again as He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, for you will find rest for your souls.”
Will you come today and surrender your heart, your life, your all to Him? Yes, He will overturn the tables of your heart, turning your loyalties from the things of this fleeting world to the eternal hearts of his children. Yes, he will rob you of your fears, guilt and shame and leave, in their place, a peace that passeth all understanding.
It will take selling everything you have, but for those with enough courage to answer the quiet, gentle knock on the doors of their hearts, what you will receive in return will be beyond measure.
So, what do you say? Will you spend tonight once again falling for the empty promises of this world, or will you instead fall to your knees and offer your everything to the One who gave everything to you?
Behold, He stands at the door and knocks. Will you answer Him?