Sometimes doors are opened to us. Opportunities lay before us that we shouldn’t pass up. Paul is a good case of this. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 16:9, “For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (cp. Acts 14:27; 2 Corinthians 2:12; Colossians 4:3). While he was anxious to be with the Corinthians, he was also aware that he had an urgent that must be completed.
But sometimes doors (or opportunities) are closed to us. In Jesus’ teaching, He pointed this out: “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut” (Matthew 25:10). Think about the following doors in your service to God:
- There is the door that shuts the Lord in — the door of prayer. “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you properly” (Matthew 6:6). Literally, this means to pray behind closed doors, but it doesn’t forbid prayer in the open, nor does it encourage cowardice.
- There is a door that shuts the Lord out — the door of indifference (Revelation 3:20). Though He has been shut out, He still knocks, seeking admittance into your heart.
- There is a door that shuts man in — the door of preparation. God shut Noah and his family in because they were ready (Genesis 7:16). Multiple times in the Genesis account it says that Noah did what God commanded him. This is what we should all work toward.
- The door that shuts man out — the door of negligence. This was a lack of preparation. After discussing how you should enter through the narrow gate, Jesus said, “When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, “Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from’” (Luke 13:25)
Close the doors of the world. Open the doors of opportunity and service to God. Your current life and eternal destiny will be richly blessed as a result.
Adapted from Leroy Sedgwick
