The Door Isn't locked

Psalm 118:19-22
Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will go through them, and I will praise the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD, through which the righteous shall enter. I will praise You,
For you have answered me, and have become my salvation.
The stone which the builder rejected has become the chief corner stone.

Here we stand....
Life is a mess.....
No real friends, to speak of.
Family has turned away from us for their own safety and security, and not be pulled under with us.
Weighed down by shame and guilt....burdens too numerous to count or name....
Physically hurting....
Spiritually numb.....
emotionally, a wreck......
And you want to tell us that we don't have to live like this anymore!
Do you think we want to live like this?
Do you think we enjoy it or relish in it?
I know we keep chasing the pipe, pill, bottle and line....
It is the only answer to the pain we know.
It promises relief.....
Even though the promise is a lie, we keep going back for more........and more........and more.
Each time we embrace it, we loose a little piece of ourselves.
We comfort ourselves with like minded people.....
Like they say......"Misery Loves Company."
And we have a bumper crop of misery...enough to go around for anyone who needs some. And we are happy to share.

But there is a solution....
A door....
A door that opens into a way of living that we truly believe is impossible for us to attain.
Funny part in all of this........
The door isn't locked.......it is merely closed.
Our nature is look for another way....
A window....
An opening.....anything.
Rather than go up and turn the doorknob and walk through....
We look for another way....
But there isn't one.
Just the door...
Just the door that isn't locked.
There isn't anyone guarding the door....
No one to tell us "You can't come in!"
But the voice in our head keeps whispering, "It's a trap...you don't know what's behind that door. Why risk it? What if you open it and there's no way out? You don't really want to open that door?"
So we listen to the voice....
We listen to the voice and continue to die, bit by bit.....piece by piece.

John 10:9 --- I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out to find pasture.

Funny part in all of this, is that when we picture Jesus as the door to our new live, one free from the sin/addiction,we tend to think of Him in terms of the church.
We have somehow created a little formula in our minds that says...." Jesus=Church." And because we may have been hurt by someone long ago in the church we don't want any part  of it. We may have had a bad experience with church, or maybe we just didn't understand "Those" folks......
Separate the two....
We are coming to Jesus ......we enter this new life through Him into a relationship with Him.
Let's get the first part down before we start worrying about the second one.
We surrender will and life over to His care.....
Then we can now start learning to live and do business with the world differently than we did in our life.
But it begins with Jesus....
It begins today....
Why not think on these things....Let them get down in your heart.....
It is Christmas, you know.....
What better gift could you ever receive than a new life....a fresh start....filled with hope.
That is only possible with Jesus.
IF I could wish you anything during this time.......
it would be that you come to know Him ....
Merry Christmas!

God on you....
mb