Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
We’ve all heard comments along the lines of, “When the door of opportunity opens, you’ve got to walk through it,” or “When God closes a door, he always opens a window.”
Just after stating we’re saved by grace through faith and not by our own works, God, through Paul, tells us we’re saved to do good works he prepared for us before we became Christians, and God says through James we must do those works to prove our faith (Ephesians 2:8-10; James 2:14-26). Our faith alone isn’t what saves, either. Nevertheless, while God completed the work of our salvation through Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, he actually also does the work of removing our sins so he can give us eternal life (John 17:1-5; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 12:13; Colossians 2:9-12; 1 Peter 3:21-22; Acts 2:38-39; 5:32; 6:7). Baptism isn’t a work we do; it’s simply obedience to God (John 14:15-21).
Because God prepares work for Christians to do, he also prepares the willing to do the work by providing the talent, tools, and opportunities (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:3-11; Matthew 25:14-30; John 15:1-8). He expects us to recognize and make the most of those opportunities (Galatians 6:9-10; Colossians 4:2-6; Acts 14:26-27).
Now consider this scenario: Recently, our preacher preached on Acts 16:25-28 (read verses 16-34 for the entire context). When he read verse 28, “But Paul shouted, ‘Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here!’” I realized Paul took advantage of a door God opened without going through it first. Keep in mind, Paul and Silas were behind closed doors in an inner cell where there weren’t any windows for God to open. It likely was God’s plan all along for Paul and Silas to be behind those closed doors with no windows. Instead of going through the door God opened, Paul and Silas waited for the opportunity to come to them, and the jailer did that and led them out giving them the opportunity to teach him and his household the word of the Lord and they all became Christians.
The first opportunity God presents anyone is actually a door for him or her to open (Revelation 3:14-22). Although Jesus specifically said that to churches and individual Christians who’d fallen away, it also applies to those who haven’t allowed him into their heart to begin with and obedience in baptism is how one opens that door to let Jesus in (Galatians 3:26-4:7; Romans 8:9). Coincidentally, Jesus also is the door through which we must pass to be with God for eternity (John 10:9; 14:6).
Have you taken the opportunity to open your heart’s door so Jesus can come in? It’s a simple process as the only way given in the Bible to be saved, and it’s not something to wait for. Neither Paul (Saul) nor the jailer and his family even waited until after they’d eaten to be baptized and Saul hadn’t eaten for three days while he fasted and prayed, which couldn’t save him anyway (Acts 9:1-8; 22:16; 2 Corinthians 6:1-2).
Leonard Lauriault is a member of the Church of Christ in Logan who writes about faith for the Quay County Sun. Contact him at [email protected]