Inside or out?

Inside or out?

When I was younger I used to have friends that lived in my small farm town in rural Indiana. My town was one of those that no one outside of a forty-five mile radius even knew about. So, needless to say, it was and is to this day very small. Being a small farming community, almost everyone knew each other and everyone's kids would go to the local playground and mess around on the rickety, rusty and ramshackle playground equipment. If someone brought a basketball that was a huge plus! Then you could actually use the basketball court with grass growing through the cracks of the cement. Be careful though, there was no padding on the pole that held the hoop with no net in place. 

Every once in awhile you and your friends would end up at this conspicuous place we called a playground. You would get to sit on the picnic tables under the pavilion and talk for hours about baseball and bottle rockets. Typically the only thing that drove us out of this watering hole was one of two things: A curfew or those unforgettable words spoken by every parent ever, "You need to be home before it gets dark.". I always contemplated pushing the limits of what, "before it gets dark" meant. Then after about the third time of me coming home past dark, my parents wised up and started saying, "If the street lights are on, then you need to be home.". Way to ruin the fun of pushing the limits! I know they did it because they cared though. 

Knowing all this, there was an exception to the rule sometimes. My odds of getting invited over to someones house were about as good as spotting a Bigfoot dressed as Waldo in the middle of a red, white and blue themed Forth of July party. So when I got invited to someones house, it was like someone just told me that there is actually an end to the rainbow and it was at their doorstep. 

Once I arrived at the friends house, I would always wonder if I would get invited inside. If I have learned anything in the past three years of my life, it is that you can never know what to expect when you cross the threshold into a person's abode that you have never stepped foot inside of before. When I was younger I highly admired astronauts for risking their lives to go out and explore the great unknown. Similar to my shuttle riding role models, I felt like I was taking a GIANT leap into the unknown if I was actually be able to go inside of someones home.

The Application

So what is so important about all of this childhood nonsense? 

I love metaphors. That is why. So did this really amazing guy named Jesus. In fact, Jesus would often tell stories so that those who did not believe in Him could understand what He was trying to tell them. 

What is the metaphor in my story?

Here is the part of the story that I left out. I would get invited over to someones house, traverse the vast length of my town on foot, reach the doorstep of my friend and he would walk inside while I waited on the doorstep. A few times that friend would come back out and tell me that our adventure was all for not. My head hung low as I walked away when this happened. 

I feel like this is exactly how we treat God sometimes. We can walk freely in and out of our own hearts, but the Creator of the universe gets stuck on the doorstep waiting anxiously for you to tell Him to come in. It shouldn't be this way though! God should be the one friend who knows that under the garden gnome in your dilapidated flower bed in front of your house is the spare key in case the door is locked. Even better yet, He should have a copy of the key to your heart. 

You see, I got stuck waiting on the porch so many times looking inside waiting to see signs of my friend coming back out to tell me to come in that I feel like I have a tiny inkling as to how God feels when we keep Him sitting on the doorstep of our heart looking in through the windows. 

I don't want to be the person who sits on the inside and stares out at the Creator OF THE UNIVERSE and just shrugs it off as He rings the door bell waiting to hear whether He can come in. No, I want to be the guy that gives a key to every one of my neighbors, to Him and to all of His friends. 

So don't let God sit at the doorstep anymore. Invite Him in so that you can start to live in communion with Him.

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