Knock, knock...
I found an image of this painting on the Internet. I really like it and thought I'd share it with you. It shows Jesus knocking on the door to our heart.
But there's something wrong this picture. Can you find the problem? Go 'head. Take a close look...
I'll give you a few hints:
- It doesn't have anything to do with this Jesus being white. We all know what He wasn't some white dude. But, that doesn't really matter much to me. As long as He died and resurrected for us, I couldn't care less if He's black, white, or green. So, that's not it.
- It doesn't have anything to do with the house that Jesus is visiting. This could be the door to any one of our houses.
Give up?
Take a look at the door. Do you notice something wrong with it? If you said "the door knob", you're absolutely correct. The door knob should be a dead giveaway. Having a knob on the outside of the door suggests that if Jesus was really determined, he could forcefully find a way into our hearts. He could pick the lock, smash the door down, or just turn the knob to open the door Himself.
But, as the Bible reminds us, Jesus will not enter our hearts unless we open the door for Him. Unlike this picture, the knob is actually on our side of the door.
Revelation 3:20 quotes Jesus as He says: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with Me." Essentially, Jesus promises that if we open the door to our hearts, He will come in and fellowship with us. Equally as important, He will allow us to fellowship with Him.
What I think is especially cool about this is that Jesus offers to 'sup' with us whether our house is actually clean or not. How many of us have a hard time visiting somebody's nasty a@$ house? Jesus doesn't require us to make our homes suitable for Good Housekeeping magazine before He comes in. He accepts us as we are.
Jesus is knocking at the door of our hearts. Will we answer Him or will we keep Him outside waiting on the porch?
- ACL
16 "Insiders" spoke their mind. Join in...:
Beautiful post, Andre!
I immediately knew what was wrong with the picture, Andre. I have a picture very similar to this one that DOESN'T have a doorknob on the outside. I hope this post touches some lost or misguided soul and bring them back to Jesus.
Thank you so much for visiting Amy and BooMama's blogs and leaving them an encouraging comment, Andre. It means a lot to me to know that I have Christian friends I can depend on in time of need. I noticed that ajbendana visited, and I appreciate him, too. :-)
Have a great weekend, Andre my friend. :-)
Great post Andre. I'll have to admitt, I didn't catch the flaw, but you made perfect sense. I hope that the unsaved that are out there visit your post. If they read it, they may have a better understanding about our Lord and Savior or politics ;)
Hey Andre, could you see yourself as a preacher? :)
@ cynthia: Thanks! How have you been?
@ Diane: I see that I can't get ANYTHING past you. You're quite the observant one, my dear Watson...
Thank YOU, for even telling me about your friends and giving me the chance to drop them a line. I think that, denominations aside, we're all brothers and sisters in Christ. We're called to support and uplift each other, even if we don't interact daily (or AT ALL). Thanks for your friendship...
@ Monique: Thanks for your insight.
I think that too often, we sell God's salvaation as being too difficult to attain. We focus on all the rules and rituals associated with Christianity, but don't concentrate on the SIMPLE part; accepting Jesus. Thanks!
By the way, me...be a preacher! LOL! Surely ye jest...
Andre, my question isn't entirely related to this post (though I REALLY did love this one). But on your profile, you said that you'd rather be rich than in love. Is that kind of pursuit really Christ-like? I'm not trying to judge or anything, but it seems like you can do more for yourself AND for Christ with a God-centered relationship than you could with money.
Just a thought.
@ anonymous: For starters, please don't feel like you have to sign on as "anonymous". If you want to leave your name, that's perfectly OK with me. I don't bite. But, if you prefer anonymity, that's cool too.
But, to address your point: Alright! You've got me. I may come across as being a bit cynical and questionable about the whole love/relationship thing. But, I only posted that on my profile as a sort of 'inside' joke with a friend. But, I will admit that the statement really DOES hold true for me. If I had to choose between the two (and that's the operative phrase), I WOULD prefer being rich than being in love. I never said that I wouldn't like to have BOTH in my life, but if it came down to choosing right now, riches when this one.
The truth is: I have been in love before. It’s a terrific feeling. But its success is highly predicated on "the other person". For instance, I was once soooo in love with a girl. She jarred my entire being. So much so, that I was seriously considering asking her to be my "Mrs." Unfortunately, she saw things different. She chose someone else. I’ve got a laundry list of episodes where someone could have been "the one", and it didn’t pan out. Whoever said "...’tis better to have loved and lost than not loved at all" obviously has never read the book about my life.
All that being said, and since I’ve already had my brushes with love (to no avail), I’d choose something different, something that I’ve never experienced...i.e. being rich. That’s something with which I have NO familiarity. Being rich is like un-chartered territory. Love? Been there. Done that. Being rich? A new concept...
@thehc:
Question...
What makes you so sure that Jesus is white? Is it because of the pictures? Is it because your sunday school teacher or your parents told you so? What are you basing this OPINION on?
Just wanted to know.
Monique,
My entire comment was meant as a joke. When your white, as I am (I think) you find that a lot of people get put in the "white" catagory depending on whether or not it fits their agenda. In example; the Census will often list people as white if they are not "black or Hispanic", some Asian people may be suprised to find that they are "white". This is also true of Jews, who are taken in and out of the "white" catagory. Since Jesus was a Jew, I thought it was funny that we would debate whether or not he was "white". I didn't actually know Jesus, so I can't be sure, I assume he would have catagorized himself as "human" and hopefully would have hated the whole black-white debate as much as I do. Does it really matter to you whether Jesus was black or white? Would he have been less of a Savior? Prophet? Philosopher? I'm not a scholar of the Bible, but I have read it, and I don't remember Jesus being hung up on color.
@ monique: Put those claws away, my dear. If I know him as well as I think I do, HC was only kidding.
You raise interesting points, however, about how we soak up everything our parents and older folks tell us. I think that's why we should make an effort to break down our "former" education of Jesus and learn Him for ourselves.
But, I think he was joking in his comments... :)
Besides that, I really don't care what color He was. Some people -- in the interest of cultural reinforcement and validation -- use Jesus' color as a selling piece. But, as long as Jesus WAS Jesus, His color doesnt' matter to me...
Andre,
You are, of course, right. I was only kidding. No harm Monique. You just don't know me well enough, give me a chance. I'm not so bad once you get past my humor.
Pretty bad humor, at that...
Remember the joke you told about how Reagan wasn't really that bad of a guy...?
*Just kidding*
LOL, O.K. I get it, no more Joking for H.C., or monkey analogies.
Ok, understood. It doesn't matter to me if Jesuse is white or black. If you weren't playing, I just wanted to know what made you so sure. No harm, no foul :)
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