You Can Forget To Lock Up

Over the years I become very concerned with making sure the church doors are locked. You might think church buildings are crime free and undisturbed but this just isn’t the case. At every work I been at (with the exception of Hope) I had my office at the church building robbed without someone “breaking in”. Even when the situation didn’t involve theft, I had many other strange encounters that involved someone being in the building when they shouldn’t have been. It has made me well aware of checking to make sure things are secure after we use the facilities. I know at one place it was almost a grantee if I didn’t check the doors after a funeral or event, I would be dealing with someone coming in unawares. It wasn’t that we didn’t want people at the building; we just wanted to know who was there and why they were there. The insecurity of the unlocked door came from the folks who were only there for nefarious purposes.

It has made me reflect of the description of heaven found in Revelation 21. In verse 25 it tells us that “its gates will never be closed”. Closing the gate is akin to locking a door. It is to keep out those that don’t belong; those that are attempting to steal and destroy. In heaven you won’t have to lock the doors. Why?

In Revelation 21:27 we see the answer:

and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

No one who is not supposed to be there will be there. You won’t live in worry about the other guy and what he might be doing. The only people there will be God’s people.

Revelation 22:14-15

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.

We often use the phrase “You don’t have to lock your doors” for a community that feels safe and secure. Heaven will be the ultimate place of safety and security. There will be no worries about the thief, the murder, the con man working coming in a ruing the safe haven. Only the peace that comes in when sin in kept away!

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