Christ the Open Door

Christ said He would draw all people to Himself, after He was lifted up.

“Does ‘all people’ mean ‘all’?” You may ask.

“Yes. All people means all.”

“If all means all, does that mean that everybody will be saved, no matter what?”

“No. Only those who receive God’s free gift of salvation through Christ will be saved.”

“Wow, wait a minute! But you just said ‘all’ means ‘all.’”

“Yes. I did. Jesus died and rose from the grave to draw all people to himself – Jew, Gentile; male, female; young, old; educated, uneducated; of all races and languages – without rank, or status – to have equal opportunity to become saved.”

“So what’s the difference?”

“The difference is that not only a privileged few have access to the gift of salvation; but anybody who wishes to come into God’s kingdom and be changed into Christ’s image. You don’t have to be holy first to become born again; you have to be willing to become a new person. E.g, in some male dominated cultures, women have little, or no, right. Christ says to all, including women, ‘Come to me and I will give you rest.’ In some cultures, the rich have all the privileges and the poor, none. Jesus says to come to Him, whether you are rich or poor, and He will give you the same status in His kingdom. Christ made Himself available to all people, but it is still necessary to choose to come to Him.”

If you have ever worked in any company, especially a mega corporation, you know that CEOs are not always accessible. The lower the employee’s rank, the less available is the CEO for a drop-in chat. CEOs are busy people.

Let’s say there was a CEO who cared deeply for his employees. He tells them that he has an open door policy and they can drop in at any time for a chat and to get some mentoring. Let’s say the CEO means every word of it. The employees know it, understand his policy, and trust him to keep his word.

Let’s say some of the employees exercise their privilege and drop in on the CEO often, but the other employees decline to take advantage of the CEO’s offer. Which of the employees would build a strong relationship with him and benefit from his open door policy?

You’re probably saying, “This is a no brainer – the former group of course!”

Or you may ask, “Since CEOs are busy people and are often on the road conducting business, how can the employees know when he is in the office and available? Perhaps the other employees are too scared to interrupt him.”

“Okay. So let’s go further and say that the CEO feels so passionately about enforcing his policy and empathizes with his employees, that he develops a way to help the employees know when he’s in the office. He walks around knocking on each employee’s door to drop in for a brief chat, or to let them know he’s available for a chat any time that day. Some employees choose to open their doors, others ignore him, or even sees him coming and bangs their doors shut!”

Let’s say that the CEO feeling ignored, finally grabs the unwilling employees by their collars and drags them to his office for a chat. What would happen to the overbearing guy?

Rest assured that the phone lines of a certain station will run ablaze with calls from eye-witnesses in the office! Why? Because he violated their freedom to take advantage of his open door policy! It’s open door-policy, not forced-door policy. So it is with Christ.

Jesus would like everybody to be saved, but He will not force anyone who rejects Him to become born again, just because He rose from the dead. That would violate the will of that person.

Christ died and rose from the dead to be the open door to His Heavenly Father. Through Him, we can approach God’s throne from anywhere and at any time. He is more readily available than the Internet. The accessibility of the Internet is hampered by its band-with; Christ is more powerful than a mega super band-with. If trillions and trillions of people logged in at the same time to talk to God through Him, this would not overwhelm His system. His band-with is immeasurable and inexhaustible. He is the open door to those who wish to have access to God’s life-changing power.

Christ is also the gentle Savior, the Great Shepherd, who knocks at the door of your heart. If you choose to open the door, He will enter and become part of your life. If you reject Him, He will respect your wishes and leave you alone, but the spiritual void in your life will continue, because He came to fill that void in our lives.

If you have never trusted Him with your life and your future, won’t you do so now? To know more about how to trust your life to God through Christ, please click here: inthosequietmoments.info/faq, and review the article, “How do I become a Christian, or a follower of Jesus Christ?”

Scripture references
John 3: 16ff
John 10: 9
Rev 3: 20 ff
Acts 2: 37ff
Matthew 11: 28
Romans 10: 5 – 13

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