Thresholds: Part 3

When I wasn’t watching Guiding Light, as a youth after school, I’m one of many who grew up watching Monty Hall on Let’s Make a Deal. The show ran from 1963 to 1977. From that time on, there were reruns, reruns and more reruns. In fact, in many places around the world, it's still being shown today, nearly 60 years after its debut. Why? We all love a good deal. We're all drawn to the suspense of wondering what might be behind door number 1 or 2 or 3. Is it a new car? Is it a dream home? Is it the vacation of a lifetime? All the doors had a prize behind them, or a “surprise” — concealing less desirable things, like a goat or a 1-year subscription to a seldom-read magazine or a year’s supply of sauerkraut. Every door had a prize, but only one door led to the grand prize. It was a game of blind choices, dumb luck, and decisions.

Every day we live, we face similar choices, and what we choose will often have a lasting impact on our lives. Many of the choices we’re presented with are positive and present little risk — a simple choice between two excellent things. Other choices are more difficult. That’s when all the other voices crowd in, telling us what to do just like they did on Let’s Make a Deal. Monte Hall would pose the question and, immediately, everyone in the audience would start shouting advice, as if they had some insight into what might be behind the curtains. Life is often like that. The voices of the world, the flesh and the devil often conspire to drown out the voice of God.

And Satan is the worst. He enjoys our struggles, delighting over our indecision, as we pause, torn between the bird in the hand or potentially two in the bush, between what we have now and what could await us beyond the threshold, behind the curtain. He makes promises, playing on our autonomous desires, dangling the thing we think we can’t live without and when we reach for it, when we choose door number one, he denies us the satisfaction of that choice. This is an experience we all share. Satan is the one who says, “Do you want the life you have, the relationship you have, the family you have, or would you trade it all for what’s behind door number 2?” It’s tantalizing. We’re fascinated by the unknown. We love surprises. But Satan never has your best interests at heart. He wants you to live with regret and buyer’s remorse over every major decision in your life.

He’s always saying, “Here’s a door. Here’s another door. You could do this or that, go here or there. It’s good to keep your options open.” He, then, plays on our sense of the mysterious. He says, “What you have is good, but what if there’s something better? What do you think is behind door number 1 or door number 2 or 3 or 4 or 43, for that matter? Would you trade what you have to find out?” And many people do, choosing to walk a crooked path.

Jesus, on the other hand, says, “I am the door. Pursue me, follow me, and I will make your paths straight.” Jesus is the door to intimacy with God. He’s the threshold we all must cross to find a life with God. He makes a way for us.

I want to invite you into a practice Terry Wardle calls the Three R’s (Every Breath We Take, p. 67-9). You can use this as a daily practice, but I would encourage you to add it to your toolbox for those moments when you’re standing at the threshold of a major life decision or you’re presented with a new opportunity. The Three R’s represent three invitations. When you’re entering a new season in your life, Jesus invites you to walk with Him through three doors of His own. First, he says, door number 1,

Rest in my presence

Jesus said, “Come to me…and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).” Think about that for a moment. Then ask the Holy Spirit to give you a picture of Jesus inviting you to rest with Him. See yourself move toward Him in stillness and silence. Listen to His invitation, “Rest in my presence. No more striving or performing. Let go of all anxious care. Your Father has taken care of everything. There is nothing to prove; nothing to do. You are home. Stay with me and rest.” As you accept His invitation to be present with the ever-present one, ask yourself these questions: What images has the Holy Spirit brought to mind? What feelings have arisen? Rest, now, in the awareness of His presence. Here’s the second invitation. Door number 2. Jesus says, “Now…”

Receive my love

This is harder for us. Let me tell you something about the love of God. He will not force it upon you. He will not make you love Him anymore than He would stop loving you if you will not let Him love you. He will not stop you from walking away from Him, leaving what you know for the unknown, cashing in your inheritance for what’s behind some other door. Many of us are like the prodigal son, thinking ourselves unworthy of His love, unloveable. But, as Henri Nouwen wrote,

“The heart of the Father burns with an immense desire to bring His children home. Oh, how much would He have liked to talk to them, to warn them against the many dangers they are facing, and to convince them that at home can be found everything that they search for elsewhere. He would have liked to pull them back with His fatherly authority and hold them close to Himself so that they would not get hurt. But His love is too great to do any of that. It cannot force, constrain, push, or pull. It offers the freedom to reject that love or to love in return. It is precisely the immensity of the divine love that is the source of the divine suffering. God, creator of heaven and earth, has chosen to be, first and foremost, a Father. As Father, He wants His children to be free, free to love. That freedom includes the possibility of their leaving home, going to a “distant country,” and losing everything. The Father’s heart knows all the pain that will come from that choice, but His love makes Him powerless to prevent it. As Father, He desires that those who stay at home enjoy His presence and experience His affection. But here again, He wants only to offer a love that can be freely received (The Return of the Prodigal Son, p. 95).”

Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a picture of God loving you — personally, intimately. Contemplate these words from your Father, “You are my child. I love you with an everlasting love. Nothing will separate you from my eternal love. Nothing. Let me love you…lavishly.” Now, be present to the love of God — in stillness and silence. What images has the Holy Spirit brought to mind? What feelings have arisen? Rest in your awareness of God’s unwavering, extravagant, unconditional love. Here’s the third invitation, door number 3. Jesus says,

Respond to my love

How do you respond to His love? Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a picture of yourself present with the Lord. As you picture yourself with Him, be aware of what’s happening inside you. What feelings arise within you? Tell Him. Your Father wants to know everything about you. Worship, adoration and thanksgiving? Is there something welling up inside that you want to say or do? Respond to His love.