The Way Back

I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.

Jeremiah 24:7

Martin Luther said, “Before my conversion, had you knocked at the door of my heart and asked who lives there, I would have said, ‘Martin Luther lives here.’. . . But now if you knock at the door of my heart and ask who lives here, I will reply, ‘Martin Luther no longer lives here; Jesus the Lord lives here now.’”^a

Revelation 3:20 tells us that Jesus wants to reside and to preside in our hearts. In this verse, addressed to the lukewarm Laodiceans, the Lord Jesus offers them a way back to intimate fellowship with Him. He was knocking at their hearts. Note that the Greek word translated knock is present tense, signifying a persistent knocking, not a perfunctory rap.

So at the end of a discouraging passage about lukewarm hearts (Revelation 3:14-22), we have a warm and wonderful invitation. If you hear Jesus knocking at the door of your life, let Him in. Learn to say, “I no longer live here; Jesus lives here now!”

In Revelation 3:20 Jesus offers to reestablish fellowship with broken, lukewarm, cultural Christians. . . . He is the way back.

PATRICK MORLEY^b