Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me.
Revelation 3:20
Change is part of life. We are constantly changing. Relationships, interests and habits vary over the course of our lives. For instance, in college, I was an avid runner. I used to run five miles a day, I was in great shape, didn’t have to worry about what I ate, etc. When I moved to Boston to go to the Seminary, I was an avid runner until the end of September, and then it got cold. And I stopped running. I tried running about twenty years later, and after a few days, my back was hurting so much that there was no joy in running. In fact, my doctor told me I couldn’t run anymore, that my discs in my spine won’t support running. He actually said “you waited too long to start running again.”
There will be times in life when our prayer life will be strong, and probably times when it will not be strong. There will be times when we will be very conscious about the presence of God and other times, He will get squeezed out by the other things we are involved in. Many people forget about God and the church when they go to college, and then come back when they get married. Some people cut back when their kids get involved in sports. Managing school, sports, the household, your marriage, and of course a demanding job will cause (or excuse) for people not only cutting back on church attendance, but also from prayer, reading the Bible and even having a strong faith in God.
It is incumbent on parents to give their children a foundation of faith. If they leave the church when they go to college, at least they will have something to come back to. If they didn’t get through their childhood with a foundation of faith, they may never find faith.
If/when we find ourselves at a distance from God, we may become discouraged and think we cannot come back to God. Going back to my example of exercise, I can no longer run, but that doesn’t mean I can’t exercise. I just have to do it in a different way—biking, walking, lawn mowing (for me), swimming, weight-lifting, there are lots of others ways to get and stay fit. There is no one who cannot come back to God. And fortunately, we can come back to Him in the same way. There is no prohibition like “you can come back to God in worship but Communion is off the table.” We can come back to God exactly as we were before we left.
If you’ve left God and the church, simply come back. If you haven’t worshipped on a Sunday, come back and worship this Sunday. If you haven’t opened the Bible in a while, sit down and open it today. If you haven’t offered a genuine prayer, stop what you are doing and offer one. God is not going to put us on some kind of probationary status because we’ve come back after an absence, however long it has been.
One might consider going to confession if one has been absent from God or the church for a long time. However, this would not be for punishment or to be chastised. This would be to make a definitive new start, asking God to forgive whatever was done during our absence, and making a recommitment to the Lord going forward.
Some people have allowed guilt over sin to put a distance between them and God. They feel unworthy of God, they feel they have done something so bad that even God can’t forgive it. If you feel like this, you are wrong. There is nothing that God can’t forgive. We can turn back to God in repentance at any time, at any moment. We read in Romans 8: 38-39, For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. If nothing can separate us from God, then this would also include sin. In fact, the only thing that can separate us from God is us, and even at that, nothing can separate us from God’s love. He loves us even when we don’t love Him. Thankfully in the Orthodox Church, we have the sacrament of confession to help us get rid of guilt and shame and unite us back to God.
Most of us know the story of the Prodigal Son, the young man who took half of his father’s property and summarily wasted it. He left home, he left his father, he wasted half of what his father had accumulated throughout his life. He wasn’t just absent, he was abusive in wasting what his father had given to him. When he came to his senses and came back to ask his father for forgiveness, the father didn’t put him on probation or punish him. He put a ring on his finger—a sign that the son was still part of the family. He put shoes on his feet—he didn’t chain him to the bed, but on the contrary, gave him the means to leave again. He killed the fatted calf and had a part in his honor. This is how God sees us when we come back to Him. He is elated. When I see someone come to church who hasn’t been in a while, I do not greet them with an interrogation, “where have you been?”, but with a sincere “welcome back.” (There is a difference, however, between those who are coming back, and those who are just stopping in who need something. There are people who dropped out years ago who then need something, like a funeral, or some other family emergency, who are just passing through to get what they need. I’m referring to those who have stopped and then make a sincere and real effort to come back on a regular basis).
Today’s Scripture verse comes from the book of Revelation. It paints a beautiful image of a door standing between us and God. There is a doorknob only on our side of the door. God knocks at the door of our hearts. He wants to be with us and in us. The choice to open the door always lies with us. Because to follow God is not only an act of personal faith but also of free will. God will never kick the door in and force Himself upon us. Rather, He patiently knocks. When we don’t open the door for awhile, He doesn’t get discouraged and move on like the solicitors who eventually leave our front door when we don’t open it. Rather, He stays and continues to knock, and when we open the door, He does not wait to compel us to buy something, but rather waits to embrace us with joy and with love.
Lord, thank You for knocking at the door of my heart, even in the times when I do not answer the door. Thank You for never leaving the door of my heart. When I have one of those times when I distance myself from You, please knock louder, so that I will not forget that You are there. When I go through a time of distance, help me to know that it is okay to come back. When I commit a sin, let me hear Your knock as a call to repentance. As I offer this prayer, I open the door of my heart and humbly ask You, “please be in my heart today and always.” Amen.
If you are challenged in your faith because you’ve put distance between you and God, you can correct that at any moment. Simply open the door and let Him back into your life.
