Day 170, Year 1

Who is Keeping Watch Over Your Heart’s Door?

“To him the doorkeeper opens.” (John 10:3a NASB)

Each person has a door to his or her own heart. Some doors are relatively closed and difficult to open, while others are more open, allowing for free entry and exit. I suggest that the guardian of people’s hearts’ doors is their personality type. A heart’s door that is difficult to open usually indicates that the person is often skeptical of new things, somewhat stubborn, and has difficulty accepting unfamiliar things. Though this type of person might find it harder to believe in Jesus and open the door for Him, they could persist and hold fast to the end once they believe. In contrast, since open-minded people always readily accept new things, they are more likely to believe in Jesus easily. Yet, they are also more prone to apostasy and soon leaving God after conversion. After all, false gods or idols have low demands, while God’s demands are high, causing some people to pretend to be Christian. Thus, both a relatively closed and an open mind have their own merits and demerits. We need to know the weaknesses of our personalities and strive to overcome them with the Lord’s help.

Besides, some people have entrusted the authority over their hearts’ doors to others out of submission. Indeed, in many places, people need to first obtain approval from their parents, or even tribal leaders, before they choose to believe in Jesus. In this way, the role of “doorkeeper” guarding their hearts’ doors has shifted from themselves to someone else. In some tribes, when a leader decides to believe or not in Jesus, everyone in the community tends to follow suit. It is for this reason that Jesus mentions that we need to renounce our parents or other people’s influence around us in order to follow Him.

We could understand each “heart’s door” as the filtering system through which we perceive the world. Nowadays, with abundant resources, people quickly sift through new information, determining what is important or unimportant, useful or useless, interesting or uninteresting, and only retaining what they deem essential. If your heart pursues righteousness and wisdom, you will naturally open your door when you hear Jesus’ voice, because His presence aligns with what you are seeking. In this way, your heart will naturally open to welcome Him in with His reign in you. Conversely, if you find that you are reluctant to open your door for Him, there might be some underlying issues. In this case, it becomes urgent to resolve the reluctance to open the door for Jesus. Ultimately, we should strive to ensure that the “doorkeeper” within our hearts is aligned with the Lord’s will.

Reflection questions:

1) Who do you think is guarding your heart’s door? Are you willing to continue letting your previous “doorkeeper” guard your heart’s door? Why?

2) Does your personality enable you to quickly welcome Jesus and persist in your faith till the end? If you have difficulty, how would you rely on the Lord to overcome it?