“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
Luke 13:24-25
My bedroom door is very irritating indeed. It seems to have a mind of its own. Sometimes it shuts perfectly well, but other times, no matter how hard I try to close it, it just won’t. For some reason, the door no longer fits in the frame! I think it has something to do with the weather conditions. I think when it rains, the door absorbs the dampness in the air, swelling the wood and making it too large for the shelf. It is very strange indeed! There have been a couple of occasions when I’ve just about managed to shut the door before I go to bed, and when I’ve woken up in the morning I’ve had to push the door with all my might, and give it a kick before I can get out!
In today’s verse, Jesus likens getting to heaven to getting through a narrow door. A narrow door way regulates the flow of people getting through it, and makes it difficult for lots of people to make it through. Most worryingly of all, there will come a time when the owner of the house – in this case God – will close the door and prevent anyone else from entering. That day is judgement day and will come at the end of time. On that day, God will judge each and every one of us. If he knows us, because we have known him, we will be granted access to his house. If he does not, because we did not get to know him, we will not be allowed to enter heaven.
If we know Jesus, if we love him, trust our lives to him, and put him at the centre of our lives, then we have an eternity in heaven, God’s new creation to look forward to. As our creator and the one who established the order by which we live, God has every right to do so. The question is – does he know us? Do we know him? Maybe we should ensure that we take the time to get to know him!