A Stubborn Door?

Recently we were having some work done at the parsonage. The worker who was painting the front door that had faded made a remark that the door was stubborn. He had to put 6 coats of paint on it to get it to turn out right. A few days later I encountered someone who said that they had a closet door that was stubborn in that it would sometimes stick and be hard to open.
          Twice within a couple of days I encountered the words “stubborn door”. Usually when something like this happens God is trying to show or teach me something. I asked God what He was trying to teach me about stubborn doors. Here is what I have discovered so far about these words.
          In Revelation 3: 20 we read that the Spirit of Jesus is saying, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and fellowship with him, and he with Me.” This scripture is the picture of Jesus knocking upon the door of a person’s heart. He is wanting to come into that heart and gain fellowship with that person in the joy of salvation or restoration if the person has backslidden. There are several factors in this scripture that show how the door can be seen as being stubborn.
          First the door can be seen as stubborn if the person is listening to the loud noise of the world so much that they don’t hear the knock of Jesus at the door. The knock isn’t a thunderous banging on the door or Jesus kicking down the door. Jesus just steadily knocks so that the person, if they will only hear the voice of Jesus who is calling to them, will respond and open the door.
          Another aspect of the door being seen as stubborn is that the person DOES hear and recognize the voice of Jesus but refuses to open the door. This is usually because of their sin that has caused broken fellowship with Jesus. They are afraid, ashamed, and trying to avoid Jesus. This is when that person needs Jesus the most but many times that is when they stubbornly refuse to open the door and let Jesus in. Jesus patiently keeps on knocking and calling to the person so that they will open up the door and receive Him. 
          The last aspect of the idea of a stubborn door is that Jesus said in John 10:9 “I am the (only) door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved,” The world has created many “religious” doors that are contrary to the idea that Jesus is the only door (way) to salvation and Heaven. When we stubbornly insist that there are other doors/ways to get to Heaven then we refuse to hear the voice of Jesus and open the door of our heart and let Him in.
          The danger of not dealing with the stubborn door is that we leave Jesus outside of the door of our heart. Therefore we are lost and have no fellowship with Him. How terrible to listen to the noise of the world so much that we don’t hear the knock and the sweet voice of Jesus. Even worse is to recognize His voice and stubbornly refuse to open the door of our heart to Him or choose to open the wrong door.
          The Holy Spirit is sometimes described as oil in the Bible. If the door of your heart is stubbornly stuck then ask God to apply the oil of the Spirit so that it will easily swing open every time that Jesus knocks upon it.
 In love with Jesus – Gary Mimbs