“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Rev.3:20
Here is encapsulated the very heart of God and is the theme of all of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. The Creator is simply wanting to fellowship with His prized creation; mankind.
The vociferous atheist, Richard Dawkins, was asked by one interviewer what he would say to the Lord regarding why he doubted His existence. Dawkins responded with a quote from Bertrand Russell: “Sir, why did you take such great pains to hide Yourself?”
Hide Yourself?! As if it is not enough that “the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”(Psa. 19:1) or that “… since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…”(Rom.1:20) are not sufficient to get the attention of an unbelieving world, the Lord says “Here I AM!”
He even cries to His own people, “Here I am!”, from outside the door of His Church at Laodicea. Though the Lord was clearly disappointed with His people, He still offered her white clothes to wear to cover her shameful nakedness, just like He did for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
And what does He want? To break bread with us! A dinner for two! In the Middle Eastern culture, breaking bread is key to strengthening relationships and fostering unity. Here is a picture of the Omnipotent God knocking, seeking an invitation from us, mere creatures, to go the next level of trust in our walk with Him.
It is especially poignant that, knowing what the breaking of bread represented, Jesus ironically identified the disciple who would betray Him at the Last Supper.
You don’t have to be a veteran disciple to be a casualty of betrayal. It is the price of love. And it hurts. I was helped in the process of recovery by two key factors. One is the character of Christ Himself. Isaiah describes the Messiah in this manner: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and He will bring justice to the nations. He will not or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out…” (Isa.42:1-3) No hurt I’ve ever sustained in my life can be compared to those of Christ. How did He respond? “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
The other help came from the sage wisdom of C.S.Lewis, who said in his book, The Four Loves: “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies, and little luxuries, avoid all entanglements; lock it safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.
But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless —it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable…” God can heal a broken heart. But the self-protective lovelessness we can hide behind as defensive armor can hinder the healing we need.
“By this shall all men know that you are My disciples when they can see how you love one another” (Jn 13:34). As we partake of the wine and bread in communion, we honor our God who found us worthy of the price of love.
Questions to Think About
1. Have you ever had your heart broken where you were tempted to lock it up safe in the casket of self-protective lovelessness? How’d that work out?
Here is encapsulated the very heart of God and is the theme of all of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. The Creator is simply wanting to fellowship with His prized creation; mankind.
The vociferous atheist, Richard Dawkins, was asked by one interviewer what he would say to the Lord regarding why he doubted His existence. Dawkins responded with a quote from Bertrand Russell: “Sir, why did you take such great pains to hide Yourself?”
Hide Yourself?! As if it is not enough that “the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”(Psa. 19:1) or that “… since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…”(Rom.1:20) are not sufficient to get the attention of an unbelieving world, the Lord says “Here I AM!”
He even cries to His own people, “Here I am!”, from outside the door of His Church at Laodicea. Though the Lord was clearly disappointed with His people, He still offered her white clothes to wear to cover her shameful nakedness, just like He did for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
And what does He want? To break bread with us! A dinner for two! In the Middle Eastern culture, breaking bread is key to strengthening relationships and fostering unity. Here is a picture of the Omnipotent God knocking, seeking an invitation from us, mere creatures, to go the next level of trust in our walk with Him.
It is especially poignant that, knowing what the breaking of bread represented, Jesus ironically identified the disciple who would betray Him at the Last Supper.
You don’t have to be a veteran disciple to be a casualty of betrayal. It is the price of love. And it hurts. I was helped in the process of recovery by two key factors. One is the character of Christ Himself. Isaiah describes the Messiah in this manner: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and He will bring justice to the nations. He will not or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out…” (Isa.42:1-3) No hurt I’ve ever sustained in my life can be compared to those of Christ. How did He respond? “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
The other help came from the sage wisdom of C.S.Lewis, who said in his book, The Four Loves: “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies, and little luxuries, avoid all entanglements; lock it safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.
But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless —it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable…” God can heal a broken heart. But the self-protective lovelessness we can hide behind as defensive armor can hinder the healing we need.
“By this shall all men know that you are My disciples when they can see how you love one another” (Jn 13:34). As we partake of the wine and bread in communion, we honor our God who found us worthy of the price of love.
Questions to Think About
1. Have you ever had your heart broken where you were tempted to lock it up safe in the casket of self-protective lovelessness? How’d that work out?