Part 1: Will You Open the Door?

"Because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold... I am about to spit you out of My mouth."
Revelation 3:16

Could I Be a Lukewarm Christian?

That's probably not a question most of us would answer "yes" to.

The church of Laodicea certainly wouldn't have.

Jesus said they believed they were rich, had acquired wealth, and were in need of nothing. From their perspective, everything seemed fine. Yet Jesus saw something they couldn't.

He called them lukewarm.

Then, just a few verses later, Jesus says something remarkable.

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock..." (Revelation 3:20)

Think about that for a moment.

The very church Jesus called lukewarm was the church He was standing outside, lovingly knocking on the door. He wasn't walking away from them. He wasn't rejecting them.

He was inviting them.

Who Was Jesus Talking To?

For years I read this verse as an invitation to salvation. I pictured Jesus patiently knocking on the door of an unbeliever's heart, waiting to be invited in. While that truth is beautiful, I eventually realized something that completely changed the way I read this passage.

Jesus wasn't speaking to unbelievers.

He was speaking to His church.

That means His words reach far beyond the beginning of our walk with Him. They reveal the ongoing desire of His heart. Even after we belong to Him, He continues to knock, not because He has gone anywhere, but because love is always inviting us deeper into fellowship with Him.

Jesus Was Knocking All Along

Over the years I've come to realize that this invitation is ongoing because Jesus knows something we often forget: we cannot live apart from Him. Our hearts slowly grow cold when we become distracted, overwhelmed, or simply exhausted by life. We may still believe in Him and love Him, yet our fellowship with Him quietly begins to fade. Before long, we find ourselves knowing about Him more than actually being with Him.

I've lived through seasons like that.

There were times when I ignored the knock. Not because I stopped loving Jesus, but because I was simply numb. Life had become so overwhelming that I couldn't even bring myself to walk to the door, let alone reach for the knob. The hardest part wasn't hearing Him knock. It was finding the desire to open the door. Sometimes the thought of sitting down with anyone, even Jesus, felt like one more thing I didn't have the strength to do. I didn't know what to say, and if I'm honest, there were moments when I didn't even have the desire to listen.

Yet every time, He kept knocking.

Not with condemnation or disappointment, but with the same patient, gentle persistence of Someone who loved me too much to give up on my heart. Looking back now, I realize He wasn't waiting for me to become stronger or more spiritual. He wasn't waiting for a perfect prayer or a better attitude.

He simply wanted me.

I Had Missed Him

Then something unexpected began to happen.

I started to realize that while I thought I had been missing Him, He had never stopped pursuing me.

I could actually feel that He missed me.

There was something about that realization that pierced my heart. His knock seemed to grow louder, not because He was knocking harder, but because my heart was finally beginning to hear it again.

Slowly He awakened a longing I had somehow forgotten. A longing for His presence. A longing simply to be near Him.

Then one day, something hit me with a clarity that brought tears to my eyes.

I hadn't just missed spending time with Jesus.

I had missed Him.

Him for Him.

Will You Open the Door?

That realization changed everything.

I understood that Jesus wasn't standing outside the door asking something from me. He was inviting me back into the relationship my weary heart had forgotten how to enjoy. He knows we cannot live apart from Him, not for a season, not for a day, not even for a moment. Our hearts were created to behold Him again and again. Every encounter reveals something we've never seen before, and every moment with Him awakens fresh wonder.

That is why He continues to knock.

Not because He wants something from us, but because He has something of Himself to share with us. His glory waits on the other side of that door, not merely glory to admire, but glory to encounter.

Every knock requires a response.

If someone knocks on your front door, you have to decide whether to open it. Jesus will never force His way in because love never does. He patiently waits because genuine fellowship is always an invitation, never an obligation.

Perhaps there have been times when you've heard His knock but didn't recognize where it was coming from. Maybe you cracked the door just enough to peek outside before quietly closing it again. Maybe you opened it halfway because you weren't sure what was waiting on the other side.

Yet Jesus never stopped knocking. He is still standing there.

Still waiting.

Still inviting.

Perhaps today all He is asking is that you open the door just a little wider. Not so you can simply receive something from Him...

But so you can discover Him.

You may not yet know everything He has waiting for you on the other side of that door.

Will you open it?