I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
John 10:9
I have this bizarre fear of it raining over night. Not because I am afraid of rain, or the night, or the dark, but because I am concerned about what the dampness in the air might do to my bedroom door. For some reason, when it rains, the door expands to the point that it is very hard to open or close it without it jamming. My fear, then, is that one night it will rain heavily, my door will expand, and I’ll end up stuck in my bedroom until my housemate comes home, and I can ask her to kick the door down. Doors always seem to cause me problems. I’ve lost track of the number of watches I’ve scratched from walking into door frames.
In today’s verse, Jesus talks about entering heaven through a door. I for one hope that that particular door won’t jam with me on the outside! Jesus explains to those listening that he is himself the door to heaven. Anyone hoping to enter heaven has to enter through him. He is quite clear that he is not “a” door – one of many different entrances to heaven – but “the” door – the only one through which we can gain access to God’s eternal kingdom. If we accept that Jesus is the only entry point to heaven, and attempt to live our lives in a way that honours and glorifies him, Jesus says that we WILL be saved. What’s more, the description of heaven as a pasture sounds like somewhere I would like to be – a place where we have all that we need, where we can be sure of God’s provision, and can rest peacefully.
The question today, then, is whether you accept Jesus as the only entry point to heaven. Once you have done that, then you have much to be thankful for; you can be sure of God’s salvation, and of his boundless provision for you.