I n M atthew 6:6 our Lord said, “But thou, when thou prayest, en ter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy F a ther which is in secret; and thy F a ther which seeth in secret shall re ward thee openly.” The Bible has much to say about doors, both open and shut. When God got Noah and his family into the ark, we read that He shut him in. Throughout the cen turies the ark has symbolized our eternal safety in Jesus Christ. As in the days of Noah, when God shuts us in today, then our lives are hid with Christ in God. We are safe from any flood. After the resurrection and before Pentecost, the disciples met when the doors were shut because of fear of the Jews. Our Lord appeared, giv ing a commission which soon got them out of the doors. So our chal lenge is “As the Father hath sent me, so send I you.” We read of the foolish virgins who, when they came back from buying oil, found the doors to the marriage feast shut. Many an evangelist has dwelt on the awful predicament of the man who waits too long to find heaven’s door shut to him when the day of grace is past. Then there are doors we need to shut. Philippians 3:13 reminds us to forget the “things which are behind.” We need a good “forgettery” in the Christian life. I was a country pastor a long time ago. There was a man in my congregation who had a lot of trouble. His wife committed suicide. For some weeks he was almost be side himself. Just about the time he recovered from that, his only child, a boy, was drowned. It seemed as though he had too much. There were some wretched months. But, by the
grace of God, he got on top of it. I remember one time we were talk ing about insomnia and he said, “Well, I’ve learned one thing that 'when I go into my room and prepare to rest, I must shut the door.” He didn’t mean just the door to his room. He had learned to close the door on all the past. Some of us have trouble with that. Some never learn to close the door on decisions. They are plagued in their minds which have never really been made up. I read of a preacher over in Australia, who lived in one small city and got a call to go to an other place. He had a terrible time, but made up his mind to stay where he was. When things went wrong there, then he wallowed in regret. Later on he did move to a different area. Every time he ran into trou bles there, he mourned that he had left the first place. He lived in con stant agony. He hadn’t learned to close the door. We need to shut the door on sin and evil thoughts. You say, “Well, I can’t help these things coming to me.” That may be but you still don’t have to open the door, inviting them, “Come in, and make yourself at home.” You are to close the door. Is your mind a tavern or is it a temple? Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Close the door on all that is unholy. We certainly must close the door on this world. Everyone usually knows the first verse to the hymn, “The Way of the Cross Leads Home.” Do you know the last? I could get a unanimous vote from most churches on the first stanza, “There is no other way but the way of the cross.” We all agree with that. If you want to throw a chill over the congregation, * 17
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