Doorways
March 27, 2015 § Leave a comment
Ralph Waldo Emerson mused, “Life is not measured by its length, but by its depth.” Still, death eventually comes knocking, and our standing before God determines how we answer.
THE DOORWAY OF DEATH
“No tabloid will ever print the startling news that the mummified body of Jesus of Nazareth has been discovered in old Jerusalem. Christians have no carefully embalmed body enclosed in a glass case to worship. Thank God, we have an empty tomb. The glorified fact that the empty tomb proclaims to us is that life for us does not stop when death comes. Death is not a wall, but a door.”
THE DOORWAY OF THE TOMB
The above words are of the late chaplain of the US Senate Peter Marshall, and are of particular relevance as Easter draws near and the empty tomb is in view. A large stone sealed the tomb’s opening, but it did not seal the deal for death. Christ arose, that door was opened, the threshold was crossed from the inside out, and so death lost. How can we lose the fear of death and gain the same victory the empty tomb represents?
THE DOORWAY THAT IS JESUS
“Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep…”, Jesus said in John 10:9. He, our living Redeemer and Lord, is only way to salvation. Through repentance and faith in the finished work of God’s Son on the cross, we can have forgiveness, grace and eternal life. Life for the Christian is much more about the destination than the journey as we look forward to the face of God and living forever in His presence. What do we do in the meantime?
THE DOORWAY THAT IS US
I am writing this a decade after my dad’s funeral, and less than a week after burying my mom. Both my parents are in heaven. Many in my family will be reunited with them in eternity because my mom, too, was a door. Through her coming to faith in Christ in 1976 and her faithful witness of the gospel, my dad became a Christian too. That seed took root in me, my siblings, their children, and will prayerfully continue in the next generation. My mom was a doorway, and truth entered from the outside in. Something eternal and life-giving came into our family, and mom continued to open up the gospel for many others until a stroke took her home at the age of 91. Her legacy will join her as a throng one day.
Inevitably, death’s door will open for us, but the resurrection of Jesus means those who put their trust in Him will have their own resurrection and can enter without fear. Meanwhile, God calls every Christian to be a doorway to truth for someone. Whether we live to 91 or not, may our legacy be opening doors for others.
God&Neighbor 
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