Welcome and Please Enter

{Jesus said} "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved.  John 10:9

Over the last week or so our lives have been filled with activity.  Last week culminated with having three grandchildren for the weekend.  We had a wonderful time with them and I pray, they with us.  My personal plans for this week were to spend Monday, Wednesday and Friday at school with my grandchildren watching their individual "sports days."  Monday morning I woke to disappointment.  My oldest grandchild was brought to me.  That was NOT the problem.  I was disappointed because I was going to disappoint our two first graders by not being able to go to their events.  The temptation was great to be frustrated and feel sorry for myself.  It took a great deal of effort to get myself to keep smiling.  I was finally able to pray and tell God that I chose to accept His will for me that day.  It turned out to be a day filled with more twists and turns than I would have ever expected, but through it all we laughed, made jokes and had a marvelous day and were able to get the prescription my grandson needed to heal; all because I made the correct choice of entering through the door that leads to joy.

Salvation is entering in through the Door of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for our sins, being washed and cleansed from the stain of sin and entering eternal life.  However, there is so much more to life NOW!!  We tend to neglect that part and sometimes feel we must be living martyrs.  We walk around feeling sorry for ourselves rather than exploring this wonderful gift. 

Debbie Williams compares this to entering a friend's new home, being amazed at its beauty so much that we go no further than through the front door and must be pulled along by our friend to see the rest.  I loved this analogy because so many things popped into my thoughts because of it. 
In my house, the first room you enter (if you enter through the front door) is the livingroom.  When we enter through Jesus - THE door - we enter this same room.  We begin to truly live.  If we stop there, we will miss out on so much more in life, more than we could ever imagine!!

Turn right in our home and you will enter the kitchen - the room of joy!!  It is this room where everyone wants to sit and visit.  It's here we taste new foods and enjoy marvelous desserts. “Kitchen” is of Albanian descent = “the place where you boil.”  Boiling is when the water becomes very active and becomes something it wasn't before - steam.  Just like joy, that steam permeates the air and fills the room.

If you go downstairs to the basement you will discover my preschool classroom.  Going down into the depths causes us to have to look up and we have many learning experiences from doing so.

If I wanted to make this into a booklet, I could tell you about each room and something that can be learned from it in comparison to the theme, but I don't believe it necessary, so I will move on.  

Jesus is so much more than the door to eternal salvation, though He is definitely the only One for it.  He brings us abundant life now, if we will simply continue through the house He has made us to be. We have been given entrance into the Holy of holies.  We are to come boldly (Hebrews 4:16) to His throne of grace.  ^"Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,  by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,  and since we have a great priest over the house of God,  let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."  (Hebrews 10:19-22)   Let's search out this building of abundance we now dwell in and receive all He intends for us.   "The eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms."  Deuteronomy 33:27