I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK

“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 will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20)

Jesus used this common experience to help his disciples better understand the redemptive relationship between what He did for all mankind and what they must do in order to fully avail themselves of His magnificent gift of grace.  When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, contrary to Heavenly Father’s counsel, their relationship with God the Father changed significantly.  No longer were they immortal.  Mortality was their new reality with all of its attendant ills and physical death its ultimate consequence.  They were also alienated from their Heavenly Father.  No longer were they allowed into His presence as they had been before their act of disobedience.  This mortal experience, including Adam and Eve’s role in introducing it, was an essential part of God’s plan to develop and ultimately exalt His children, but it obviously came with dangerous ramifications.  Knowing the weakness so prevalent in mortal beings, God prepared a way for his children to overcome all of the negative consequences of their mortal experience.  That gift of rescue came in the person of the Father’s own Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who volunteered to sacrifice His own perfect life in behalf of all the Father’s children whose own sinful acts would prevent them from ever reconciling with God and enjoying the glory of His presence.  Christ’s infinite and eternal atoning sacrifice satisfies the demands of divine justice, making forgiveness possible and clearing the way for God’s children to choose to return to God by becoming like Him.  When considering the meaning of the scripture above, the thing which stands out first and most predominantly to me is the Savior standing at the door knocking, and inviting the person inside to open the door.  To me the door represents the barrier that exists between God and me.  It’s what keeps me from associating with Christ and allowing us to become intimately acquainted.  Pondering the imposing price Christ paid to rescue me from myself and the demands of divine justice, I cannot elude the realization that Christ is incredibly eager for me to hear and recognize His voice, and to open the door, thus allowing Him into my life, into my heart, so He can heal me from my mortal journey.  When I reflect upon the image of Him standing at the door knocking, I have come to believe that His presence at anyone’s door is not defined by brevity, with Him walking away if the person inside is unresponsive.  I believe He is always at every door, hoping and yearning for them to hear His voice and open their door.  The patience He exhibits while waiting for a response is beyond my imagination.  His presence at any door, with the promise of healing, forgiveness, and peace is constant and everlasting.  He will be ready and available whenever you are.  Nobody needs to worry that they have waited too long and that when they finally open their door, He won’t be there.  That simply is not who He is.  Given that Christ is the constant in this salvational question, let us now consider the variables.  Of each of us, two things are required.  First, we must hear and discern His voice inviting us to come unto Him, and second, we must choose to open the door by opening our minds and hearts to Him.  Distinguishing Christ’s voice from among the massive cacophony of voices ever present bidding each of us to go anywhere other than to Him, can be daunting at times.  The adversary’s evil intent is to disguise, distort, or destroy the Savior’s sacred message of salvation which makes his contrarian solicitation of evil seem far more appealing than it will certainly prove to be.  However, we are not left to our own devices in learning to recognize the Savior’s voice.  “For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.” (Moroni 7:16,17)  This Spirit of Christ is given to every person born into mortality and acts as a guide, leading one to recognize the Savior’s voice because of how it makes them feel.  But hearing the Savior’s voice is not enough to complete the sacred union necessary for salvation.  A person has to act upon the invitation which comes from Him and open the door.  King Benjamin provides concise counsel in this regard.  “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the fHoly Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” (Mosiah 3:19)  The right to choose is paramount in the economy of God’s governance.  The way to have one’s nature changed is to yield to the sweet, peaceful voice of Christ, striving to put off the natural man and become a new person through the Atonement of Christ.  This is indeed a process but if one persists, putting forth their best effort, the day will come when their best effort will be enough.  “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” (Ether 12:27)