Four Foot Vinyl Jesus

I visited a friend's apartment the other day, your typical one bedroom apartment, and noticed a four foot vinyl patch of floor right inside the front door. The apartment has wall to wall carpeting in all areas except for the kitchen, bathroom and this "entry area" by the front door. It got me to thinking about Rev. 3:20: "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man will hear my voice, I will come in and dine with him."

Jesus is a gentleman and I feel He only moves into areas where He is first invited. So, we hear a knock. And we open the door. But how far do we let Him into our homes?

Do we treat Him like the door to door salesman or the neighbor down the street? We may hear him on the front porch so frequently that we think we have invited him into our homes. We open the door and go out on the front porch to talk. We may even have a friendly conversation. But, have we invited him inside? Has he crossed the threshold into our home?

For others, we may truly invite Jesus into our lives but never let him get beyond that little vinyl patch. Is he technically in our lives? Yes. Does he have free reign? No. Is he really welcome? Yes, but with limitations. Our limitations. Our locked doors. He will only come inside as far as we invite him.

Let's go to the next level of inviting someone into our homes. Say we get a visit from an casual friend from church. Not a really good buddy but somewhat of a friend. Maybe even a new friend. In this case, we invite them into the living room. Look around the room. Everything in here stays nice and tidy. There may be a newspaper on the floor plus a few things out of place; but its generally presentable. We've got the Bible on the coffee table (though probably dusty) right under the remote controls for the TV, VCR, DVD and cable box. Generally, everything in this room stays pretty and "appropriate." Granted, you can have some good visits, maybe even share a laugh or two. But, we generally stay on our best behavior in this setting. We may get to know somebody on the surface but its not at any sort of level of intimacy.

Where do we go from here? How about being invited into the dining room for a home cooked meal? It is a natural progression of the preliminary living room experience. There seems to be enough substance for a relationship to move beyond nice, polite talk to move toward a sharing a meal together. At first, a meal with a new friend is limited to remembering our manners and generally behaving ourselves.

Before long, the walls start coming down. We relax enough to put our elbows on the table. We start to enjoy the company.

OK, so we shared a meal or two. No disasters yet. Generally acceptable behavior. Nothing weird. After a few times together we may even ask our new friend to help out in the kitchen. Now we are getting into "real relationship" territory… we feel close enough to ask for them to help. Granted, the 'help' may only be getting something out of the oven or setting the table. But, it is still growth for the relationship.

And, our meals may not be quite as fancy as the first ones. We are enjoying the company so much that we no longer feel the need to try to impress with our culinary skills. Take out pizza or a burger on the grill is enough as we move to a new level of intimacy. We even let them help out with the dishes. Hanging out together is the point, not the display on the table. Fellowship is getting sweet.

As a friendship grows, we will even ask them to help on special projects like building a deck or doing some remodeling. There is something special about working side by side with a friend… a special type of bonding. But, this is a real test of friendship. Are you going to ask anyone but a real friend to help you doing something that involves sweating in the summer sun? Not likely. Sometimes it is easier to just hire help to do something tough like moving or heavy landscaping. Only the tightest of friends would feel free to ask some one to work that hard for no pay beyond a nice meal. But to share an experience like this takes friendships to a decidedly deeper level.

Do we invite our new friends into all the rooms in our home? While they may get more and more free reign, there are usually a few areas where the doors stay shut. For some, it may be a spare room that acts as a "catch all" for everything that doesn't seem to fit elsewhere. For others, it may be a closet where we hide things that aren't acceptable for every one to see.

Few people are really good at housekeeping. As we go through the work week, it is easy to let a few things slip. But, most of us can kick in and do some quick cleaning to keep the house presentable. For some, though, it goes beyond being a little messy. For some, it is a real challenge. Sure, they can keep the front rooms pretty clean but no one is allowed to go through their rooms past a certain point. It may be their bedroom, a spare bedroom or "that" closet. Keeping the front of the house clean takes just about all the strength they have. The back of the house is neglected with a promise to get more organized "someday." But that someday never comes. It becomes more and more of a mess until cleaning it is well beyond our reach.

Their mess gets so bad they wouldn't even allow a close friend to help them clean it up. It's too shameful for them to even hire help to get it done. They are simply embarrassed that things have gotten that far out of control. Before long, it becomes a deep bondage without anybody to help. They are drowning in something of their own design. In time, the clutter can creep into more and more rooms until finally, no one is allowed inside. These people have become prisoners in their own homes. Maybe it is a defense mechanism. Maybe it is a sickness. Maybe they have been told they weren't any good at housekeeping. Whatever the case, they need help.

We can have lives like that as well. A little mess gets bigger and bigger until we turn around one day to realize we are all alone and ashamed to ask a friend for help. But, that is precisely the point where Jesus rolls up his sleeves and offers to dive in and help in the really tough stuff. We have to ask but he is ready and eager to help.

One of the neat things about Jesus' help is there is no shame. He took all that on the Cross. There is love and acceptance as we work with him toward health and restoration. Granted, it may take some time. The house didn't get cluttered overnight. It may take a while to get it back in order. But, we have a Lord who is patient and will work with us a lifetime if that is what it takes. He has a purpose and that purpose is restoration, peace and health.

My point is, Jesus longs to be the kind of intimate friend to us who would roll up His sleeves and do the dishes or help clean out the closet. He wants to be much closer than just a "living room friend" but only as we allow it. He's a gentleman and won't go anywhere without an invitation. Our invitation. Yes, it can be scary... but it's worth it.

I'm going to break this up into more than one part in order to make it a bit easier to take in. I hope you enjoy thinking of your relationship with Him as a house guest.