via Flickr”]

Darkness abounds.  Men grope about, touching unfamiliar objects.  Though the Sun rises and light appears to dawn in the land of the living dead, they do not perceive the Light which has shown from eternity to eternity.  To their loss, men continue to grope.  And in this frantic reaching for that which does not last, they live as if dead.  The rot of their greed is a stench which their noses do not smell.  With eyes glazed over with the things of this world, they see nothing.  They speak of things which have no meaning but destruction; to themselves and those who hear their words.  But they do not perceive their plight.

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”  Like a man who fears the one who holds death in his hand, the living dead fear the sound of this knocking.  In their dead lives they perceive God’s calling as an omen of tragedy.  Yet, what do they have that is not tragedy?  How can encountering this Beautiful One be more terrible than the life they are now leading?  Still, how very few even ask, “Who is it who knocks on the door of my heart?”

Why do you fear what you do not understand?  What is this smell of fear in your house?  From who does that odor come?  It comes from you.  What do you have to lose that you have not already lost?  What do you have to gain that you have never tasted?  And with what will you redeem even one of your sins? 

Rise up and open the door!  You are already dead before the Throne of the Most High God.  For the sentence is already passed on those who live without the Lord Jesus.  And those who say they serve Him, yet walk in darkness will not fare much better.  There is a place where those who have proclaimed the name of the Lord, but never walked with Him, will be shown for who they were.  And they will be assigned a place with the unbelievers.  Rise up!  Open the Door!

By His Grace.