The Doorway

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In many doorways of the Roman Empire there was a depiction of a god with two faces pointing in opposite directions. Janus was the god of transitions. He looked ahead and he looked behind–to the past and the future. He was a kind of doorkeeper, a minder of the gate. And so our calendar’s first month, January, is named after him. On January 1 of the new year we look behind, and we look ahead.

Grass field with a door

So what’s on the other side of the doorway you’re stepping through?

One day Jesus said: “I am the gate for the sheep…. whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10).

In Jesus’ day the shepherd tending a small flock would gather the sheep into a pen during the dangerous night hours and he himself would lie across the gate area, acting as a human door. And then the “door” would come open in the morning and the sheep could go out to pasture.

Here’s something I think we frequently miss. Jesus’ emphasis is not just on being a door that protects us from outside intruders, but a doorway designed to let us out into the wide world around us where the opportunities are.

Leaders have to get people out the door. Leaders have to be willing themselves to leave the pen and launch out. What are the opportunities and challenges you are facing on the outside?

6 thoughts on “The Doorway”

  1. I believe one of our biggest challenges is to believe – by
    faith – that “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome
    them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is
    in the world.” The choice is black and white and as Christians we
    need to make the choice and BELIEVE that He is truly greater than
    any challenge we face. We need to rehearse this Truth every single
    day: get out of our “pens” and model it for our children. Let our
    hurting world see, feel, embrace, and know Jesus through us. To
    cower in doubt or fear in our relatively comfortable “pens” is an
    abdication of our Christ-assigned responsibilities as Christians,
    and in my opinion only – a flat-out sin.

  2. Now that my two disciples have gone out into the world to make their own, I am challenged to make new disciples. I have waited for them to come to me but I think I have to prayerfully go looking for them. I’m out of the pen and on the hunt for potential fishers of men.

  3. I have been asking God to help me redefine my thinking relative to my position as a Christian in my place of work. Too often I consider it just a place to earn a living and help the company to be profitable and that is the only impact that I have there. Secondly, I am in sales and if I am not producing sales that I am in some way failing and I tend to develo[p a feeling of inferiority. I know that on both counts I am wrong and that God looks at it much differently. I know He says,” your work matters to me and that I have you there in that particular position for a reason, and it’s not only to make a living, but to be an example of Christ to others. And that if you use all the talents, gifts and abilities I have blessed you with and you offer your day to me and work hard, even if the sales do not always come, that is all right. Just trust in Me.” My word for this new year is surrender, especially in this area of my life.

  4. A door that swings both ways with no locks, reminds me of the free will God gives us in this short time to take advantage of his grace to come and go for his glory. As challenging and risky it can be, when you are outside the door.

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