The opening ceremony for the new building had just ended, and I wanted to explore its 6th floor for the fantastic view overlooking the campus. I quickly set up a gel (an acrylamide polymer that takes ~ an hour to trap large proteins for visualization) and walked across the street. As I went to the 6th floor, I ran into a former student of mine who was working in a lab at Marsico! I was happy to see her, and told her about my recent decision to follow Jesus. Being a believer herself, she was amazed that I had come to know God, which we joked about, since she told me that who I was back in the day had her convinced that I would be quite far from a decision such as this. I noticed though that she was in distress about her future and her direction in life. I offered to pray for her to grow closer to Jesus and seek His face and give up her worries to Him.

We left the 6th floor and wandered around for a while, looking for a place to pray in a building made of 85% glass and 0% privacy. There was finally an empty lobby surrounded by walls rather than a huge glass window that we decided would be our prayer spot. I geared up to pray. I placed my hand on her shoulder and- “boom! boom! boom!”

We both jumped and turned to see some strange guy knocking on the side door. We look away, trying to ignore his knock. There is a front entrance for those have card access. Why is he knocking on this side door that is quite far from the entrance? I again place my hand on her shoulder and start to say- “boom! boom! boom!”

Okay. Now we were a little worried. Who is this guy? Is he trying to break in or something? It’s a brand new building, and those with access can get in, so who is he? We turn away, a little afraid.

Again he thumps on the glass door. This time, since there were some others near us, I went up and opened the door in annoyance.

His face was a mixture of joy and relief. “I am the chief architect of this building, and they locked me out!!!” he bursts out. I stand there, stunned into silence. Slowly a mad grin breaks out across my face. “You’re the main architect of this building?” I ask. “Yes!” he replies. “I made the blueprint of this building. From scratch! I know every corner and every door. And they locked me out!” he says once again. “Wow! You built this building? It’s beautiful!” I say.

I look at my friend and she is shaking her head in disbelief, also grinning. We both wait for the architect to leave and realize that God was trying to tell us something. That humanity had locked out its chief architect, and will not realize it until we let Him in. When we do, we end up thanking him for making us the way He made us! We prayed that we let more of God into our hearts and lives. We prayed that we will let His will reign over our life as he knocks on our door and opens up doors for the future.

Revelation 3:20

I was so moved by the architect story that I kept thinking about it whenever I prayed. I asked God what it meant, and whether I was over interpreting a simple life event. Should I look past such events, or are these stories meant to be a message? I flipped open the Bible and prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide my reading. The wind from my fan flipped the pages to Revelation. I thumbed through the verses, wondering what all the symbols in the verses meant. Suddenly, my eyes stopped at Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me.” I was stunned. My heart was on fire. I was burning up. And the architect story fell into place with the verse in my head and heart!

Here, Jesus, the ultimate architect, it talking about standing there at the door of our hearts, our homes, our churches, knocking. Now, when someone knocks on a door, the person is usually asking for permission to come in. To enter. This is the the God of the Universe, who created us and our hearts, asking for permission to enter our hearts. What better case for free will is there in the Bible than this verse alone! God shows us that He will never impose himself upon us, but instead will knock until we MAKE the choice to

1) hear His voice (discernment),
2) open the door (action),
3) let him in (trust) and,
4) sup, or, eat with Him (fellowship with Jesus).

How amazing! Such defined actions are being asked of us as individuals, as families, as churches, as institutions and businesses. How busy are we to even take notice of that knock on our various doors? Doors are a result of a broken world that has resulted from the fall. We put them up to protect us from harsh weather, animals and people. When we experience enough troubles of this world, sometimes our doors become permanently shut, a situation where we can let no one in, especially God. As in the architect story, we ignore, we fear, we get annoyed when the architect of the universe knocks on the barriers we have put up. We fear that our comfort zone will be taken away. We get annoyed that the life and buildings we have built for ourselves will be knocked down. We end up ignoring the knock, the calling, the voice of Jesus because we just don’t know how to hear Him, open our heart, let Jesus in, and spend time with Him.

When I opened the door for the architect, his face was that of joy. How joyous must our Father in heaven be when we let in God and let our fears collapse!

Thank you Jesus for opening up doors and breaking down our walls. Thank you God for healing us through your unending patience as you stand there knocking. May we be more discerning of your voice when you call out to us.