Is Jesus standing at the door of your heart?

Welcome to the Rapid Bull, daily edition, where we provide a quick biblical interpretations and applications.

This is a ministry of striving for eternity. A passage of scripture that's on so many gospel tracks is

Revelation chapter 3 verse 20. And that reads, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me.

I've seen that on so many different gospel tracks, trying to say that Jesus is standing at the door of your heart, knocking, and if you open the door, he'll come in and eat with you.

But is that really what it's saying? Well, first off, when you want to do interpretation, a good thing to do is ask, who is the audience?

Well, John is writing here to the church of Laodicea. Did you get that word?

The church? That's right. He's writing this to people who already believe.

So how could this verse be referring to people who do not believe? Well, it doesn't.

That's really what it comes down to. It doesn't. That's not the meaning of this passage. This is a letter written to this church where they are needing encouragement, where they're doing things that God wants them to be useful for his purposes.

And he's saying to them in verse 19, those whom I love,

I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. He's calling them to repentance, those who already believe, and that he's standing at the door welcoming them back, not to the door of the heart, but basically to the door of the church saying, come back, repent, and be a church.

It's not to unbelievers. This podcast is part of the Striving for Eternity ministry. For more content or to request a speaker or seminar to your church, go to strivingforeternity .org