Close Side Doors

Side doors!

Ephesians 5:15 “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise..”

Nestled in the midst of open fields, situated in the outskirts of the city, the simple, elegant, white colored duplex building was certainly gorgeous compared to the multi-hued houses all over the place. The front door was thick, solid, made out of teak wood; besides this, there were two side doors in the ground portion and two balcony doors on the first floor. I felt there were far too many side doors! I also found the side door wood were of very poor quality and not as strong as the main door! During the first few days after moving into that house, I found the side doors kept opened wide during a couple of times, while the main door was tightly shut! Imagine! I warned the maid and the children, that we were staying in the outskirts, further away from the main roads, surrounded by open fields, hence not very safe to keep the side doors open – even during the day. But still, I found the same mistake being done again with one of the ‘side doors’ being left open – an easy entry for thieves! I immediately not only bolted the doors but locked the ‘side doors’ with lock and key, leaving just the main door to be maintained carefully. Is anybody listening? Recently, I read of an incident in the city, where a young foreigner kept the widows opened and went to sleep, only to find an intruder creep into her room through the window in the wee hours of dawn and ravage her life. This message comes with a caveat to be careful! Check if there is a leakage through the side door!

Let me compare this with the spiritual aspect, and show how much is being drained out through the ‘side doors’ due to seer ignorance and carelessness. There are many out there who read the Bible, fast and pray; yet, fail to control their temper and the unbridled tongue that creates havoc. Massive leakage through the side door leaves you a weak person. Close the side door please!

Facebook and other social networking sites, happens to be the side doors through which the enemy enters to eat away the time - and leave nothing for God. Some youngsters are so active on Facebook that they browse even in the church! Think of that! Friend, if you are not aggressively committed to separating time for God, then it would never happen. If you feel, you have just enough time to pray and read the Bible, then ‘chuck’ everything else and put God first. If for a moment you feel, let me check important mails, then five minutes will drag on to an hour – beware!

Laziness, lethargy and carelessness are crucial side doors that are left open in the life of many brilliant, smart, educated men, women and even among Christian ministers; that cause huge embarrassment for the Kingdom of Christ. Please close these side doors! Make a committed effort to wake up early and start the day with prayer and reading the Bible which would surely bless you and keep you away from the evil forces.

After my encounter with Jesus, I aggressively started to close every ‘side doors’ in my life: I cut to pieces and destroyed all the secular movie CDs at home, I tore secular books that contradicted the Bible. Seriously, I did it. I stopped watching shows on TV that would bring a wall between me and God and issued instructions to my kids as well. It is not only about opening the front door for Christ but closing the side doors from satan is also of paramount importance!