Location, Location, Location

In Revelation 3, John was writing a letter on behalf of Jesus talking to the church in Laodicea. John talks about how Jesus rebukes the ones he loves. In response, we must repent or turn from what we are doing incorrectly. Then, he talks about how Jesus is standing at the door of our hearts knocking. If we chose to answer, Jesus enters our hearts and eats with us.


"Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." Revelation 3:19-20


"To rebuke" means to offer sharp criticism because of someone's actions. This is often times seen as a form of hatred by not only children, buIn business, one of the most important things is location. Where you are physically located makes it either easier or harder for you to be successful. If you're located in a prime spot, people can very easily receive your good or service. However, if you're in an out of the way area, it makes it a lot harder for people to get to you.

t us. However, earthly parents, like God love their children. If my parents gave me criticism today I wouldn't like it, but I know they are doing this out of a place of love. As Christians, we need to remember that when God smacks us upside the head with something we don't like, it's because God loves us and in response to this, we need to do something about it.


Now, back to location. Think of your life as a house for the rest of this post okay? Before you think I'm crazy, hear me out. So, if Jesus is standing at the door of the hearts of people who are not Christians, then we can assume that Jesus is inside the homes of our hearts as Christians.


In Jewish culture, the heart was the center of someone. It was where there desires, emotions, and pretty much everything else came from. In Western culture, our hearts are where mostly just our emotions come from. When Jesus enters our hearts, He wants ALL of it to be devoted to Him, not just SOME of it.


In Western culture, our hearts our like our homes, they have different compartments or rooms. If we accept Jesus, we only let him into the mud room, which is where we take off our shoes and coats. There, Jesus waits with patience for us to let Him into the next room. We often times think of our priorities as God, then family, friends, then work, and then hobbies.


Jesus wants to be in ALL of the rooms in our hearts. He wants to be in every compartment of our lives. Instead of putting God first on the list it should go God and family, God and friends, God and work, and then God and hobbies. Colossians 3:23-24 says "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."


Clearly, this is about doing works and can be applied in many ways, but I think it can also be applied to having Christ in our hearts. If God resides in every area of our hearts, we are then that much closer to doing everything we do as if we are doing for Him. This is important because when we realize that God wants to be in every aspect of our lives, it gives us something to strive for. When we're in the presence of God often, it lets us not only commune with God, but it also helps us fight temptations.


Now finally, to the image of eating with Jesus. In pretty much every culture, eating with someone is not only a place to share food, but also to share friendship. I think it was meant in this context that Jesus wants a friendship with us more so than wanting to literally eat with us. You could argue that is what Communion is for, but I'll save that for a later blog post.


When we eat with others, we tend to eat out, but I think there is something more wholesome about sharing meals with people in our homes. It lets them into our spaces and in a way, into our hearts. This is part of the reason why I love having people over for meals, it creates a space of being open with my heart and thus makes me more vulnerable to the other party.


I think Christ wants us to not only be friends with Him, but also vulnerable. If we can't be open with God, how can we be open with other people in our lives? I John 1: 8-10 says "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us." This word sin literally translates as missing the mark. I have recently been reading a book about stories, and how there are deeper meanings within the stories. One of the authors Henry Graf talks about sin as "bull" and how it takes a pair of people to talk about the bull in our lives. If we say we have no bull, we can't smell the crap we have on our knees, everyone else can, but we can't.


God wants to talk to us about the crap in our lives, because He wants to clean us off or forgive us. Think of it like a parent washing their child off after they were playing in mud. If the kid doesn't realize they are dirty, it's a lot harder to wash them.


When it comes to location, Christ wants to be in every location of our lives. He wants to be in every room of our lives and have a relationship with us where we can be not only open, but clean us. We should also pursue relationships with those around us so that we can talk about the bull in our lives.


More Than a Story by Dani Tietjen and Henry Graf