My Opened Door

Just before retiring for the night, I remembered I had not watered the plants on the front porch. The time was somewhere around nine. In the summer heat, my energy seems to deplete more quickly. And even quicker if I exert myself pushing the porch swing, my favorite place in the world, to and fro. So, I’ve pushed bedtime up to when-I- feel-like-it o’clock. That has been nine o’clock or earlier lately. That gives me time to read and think before snoozing the rest of the night away.

Feeling self-satisfied with doing not one but two chores, I read my book and pondered in my pond. Having turned off the light, I soon slipped away to my alternate reality…that is, until twelve-thirty. In the dark bedroom, something was different. There was a source of light that puzzled me.

Leaving the bedroom, I instantly felt the sticky warmth of outdoor humidity. I followed the refracted light beams to their source. I had left the front porch lights on. Then my heart did a mini-bump. The front door was standing two-thirds of the way open.

The instant question was, “Who left the door open?!”. It was answered quickly, “The guy who last opened it,” me. I had left the door open to do my chores then came back in by the garage door.

Now the question was, “Who is in the house?” quickly followed by, “What is in the house?”. Turning a light on in each room revealed no obvious intruder. Going back upstairs, several possible intruders passed through my mind, rodents, snakes, the neighbor’s dog or cat, a pack of coyotes, and back to snakes.

The snake thought stayed with me. As I climbed the steps, I wondered if snakes could climb steps. As I crawled back into bed, I wondered if a snake could get up on my bed.

The last “think” I remember thinking before sleep took over was, “Fred, you’re a crazy nut!”

My neglect compromised the security of my home. When we leave a door open to our thoughts, intruders are free to come and go. We may think we have faith in God, but when a door to our minds is left open, that faith becomes only a wish.

A door is left open in our minds when we ignore God’s promises and limitations. We lose security and become vulnerable to any nearby clamoring opinion of how life ought to be.   

Ultimately, fear and vulnerability came into this world as byproducts of death. When we have found a way to eliminate death, we will have found a way to establish adequate security. Until then, as long as death hovers around our horizon, we will be vulnerable to the collateral damage death inflects. Death is more than the stopping of the heart; it’s the loss of a life worth living. Jealousy, anarchy, exploitation, and a thousand other afflictions plague every human, universally birthing fear, anger, and hatred.

There is only one possible secure position: hiding deep in God’s love. He is life, projects life, and protects life. Without a reciprocating love relationship with Him, the front door of our lives is standing wide open. At some point, an unwanted varmint will invade our private domicile and wreak havoc.

We tend to flesh out our own cure for what causes our insecurities as we desperately endeavor to stabilize and secure a place to live in this hostile, dirty, twisted, dark world. When His promises and instructions are modified or supplemented, we become spiritually blind, the darkest kind of darkness.

Psalm 14 gives a stark, ominous assessment of humanity. But if you look for it, you will find an invitation to buck the dreadful system. There is still the “Original” option of walking with God in the pre-Fall cool of the day. This walk is one in which God provides a system that establishes security where peace and joy are not dependent upon the condition of the world around us.

A life committed to following Jesus is where Jesus himself is the door that keeps out all the varmints threatening to invade our safe place. He is offering a fresh start at being the “image” of God.

Psalm 14:1-2

The fool says in his heart, “There’s no God.”
They are corrupt; they do vile deeds.
There is no one who does good.
Lord looks down from heaven on the human race
to see if there is one who is wise,
one who seeks God.

Did you see it? The Lord is seeking humans who look for Him.  He calls such God searchers wise. Are you that wise “one?”

Photo – Tulip Poplar tree blossom in my backyard.