Tom lived on a farm away out in the country, far from the highway and train station. He had to walk about half an hour each day to school in the nearest village.
After Sunday school on Lord’s day he usually had supper with Grandma and then stayed for the evening service. Tom was glad not to have to walk home and back again in his best clothes. Besides, Grandma made super cakes, so he felt rather important to be her special guest.
Grandma lived right next door to the little gospel hall, in a quaint old cottage overgrown with honeysuckle, and with lavender and roses in the garden. The door was old-fashioned too, without any handle on the outside, and Grandma had to open it from within. Of course there was a back door, but Tom was content to knock and wait for Grandma to come and let him in.
That was years ago. Tom had grown older and left the farm to work in town. Dear old Grandma passed away and the house was sold.
After some years Tom came back to visit the farm, and as he passed the old cottage where Grandma once lived, he stopped to inspect the alterations the new owner had made. Imagine his surprise to see no door where he had so often knocked for Grandma to let him in. The door has been removed and the opening bricked up so that you could hardly see that there had ever been one there.
As Tom looked at the solid wall, he could hardly believe that there had actually been a way through—those happy days were a thing of the past. Then he thought of what he had heard in Sunday school when a boy, about the Lord Jesus knocking on the door of his heart which he must open from the inside. He remembered too that he had been told the Saviour would knock for the last time and then there would be no more opportunity to be saved.
Tom also had learned that there was a door open into heaven, that one day that door too would be shut forever, and then the last hope of entering there would be gone forever.
Tom had not thought much about these things when a boy, or bothered about them since, but now the absence of the door in the old cottage brought them to mind, and it was rather a shock to him to find there wasn’t a door there at all now.
Tom thought about it very hard that day, and he opened the door of his heart there and then. And what happens when any one does that? The Lord Jesus comes in, bringing happiness and peace; the sense of guilt is gone, and when the Lord takes charge, sin and selfishness have to go out. So it was with dear Tom.
The Lord Jesus 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 will sup with him, and he with Me.” Rev. 3:2020Behold, 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).
ML-09/10/1978