Who At My Door Is Standing?

The title of this post is also the title of a beloved song written by Mary Slade and Asa Everett all the way back in 1876. Many hymnals place Revelation 3:20 just below the title and just above the lyrics. That passage comes at the end of our Lord’s message to our lukewarm brethren in Laodicea. He tells them, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. That this message was to Christians reminds us of the need for continual faithfulness. Where Jesus is concerned, our hearts need to be operating on a constant “open door” policy.

However, there is something else lurking just outside the door of our hearts. More often than not it is unwilling to stand out in the open and knock, preferring rather to conceal itself until the opportune moment and then pounce, very much like a lion hiding in ambush. God warned Cain of this lurker in Genesis 4:7. If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.

Sin is crouching at the door of our hearts constantly. It’s hiding in the bushes, peering through the windows, pressing an eye to the key hole, and doing everything it can to find a way in. It’s waiting for those unguarded moments to strike. When that rude driver cuts us off, perhaps even treating us to a certain hand signal in the process, sin is ready to pounce with a curse word or a retaliatory gesture. When we learn that a classmate or coworker has been gossiping about us, sin is ready to strike with some slanderous gossip of its own. When a brother or sister in Christ walks past without offering any greeting at all, sin is ready to swoop in and think the absolute worst about them without giving any thought to a possible trial or hardship weighing heavily on their minds. When kingdom work needs to be done or time needs to be given to spiritual improvement, sin is quick to cast his incredibly wide net “omission” to keep us content with status quo and our effort for the Lord to less than maximum.

            I put a challenge to us all. Let’s take just a single day and count the number of times and ways sin makes an effort to ambush us. I believe that if we’re really paying attention we’ll come away not just surprised, but with much great awareness of our adversary and his methods (2 Corinthians 2:11). Let us never forget that Jesus is not the only one seeking entrance into our hearts. Where he knocks, sin crouches in ambush. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23)