I came across a story this week, a story about a honeymoon disaster. The newlyweds arrived at the hotel in the wee hours with high hopes. They’d reserved a large room with romantic amenities. That’s not what they found.
Seems the room was pretty skimpy. The tiny room had no view, no flowers, a cramped bathroom and worst of all—no bed. Just a foldout sofa with a lumpy mattress and saggy springs. It was not what they’d hoped for; consequently, neither was the night.
The next morning the sore-necked groom stormed down to the manager’s desk and verbalized his anger. After listening patiently for a few minutes, the clerk asked, “Did you open the door in your room?”
The groom admitted he hadn’t. He returned to the suite and opened the door he had thought was a closet. There complete with flowers, fruit baskets and chocolates, was a spacious bedroom! Can’t you just see them standing in the doorway of the room they’d overlooked? Oh, it would have been so nice.
Why didn’t you try, I was asking myself as I read this story? Get curious. Check it out. Give it a shot. Take a look. Why did you just assume the door led nowhere? Good question. Not just for the couple but for everyone.
The Apostle Paul says, “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands…Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (11 Corinthians 5:1, 5)
Longing is a part of life. It’s only natural to long for home when on a journey, but we aren’t home yet. We’d be wise to do what the newlyweds never did. We’d be wise to open the door, stand in the entryway, gaze in the chambers, and gasp at the beauty! Death has been all around me in the past month. Some ready to open the door; one not ready. Died suddenly! Do you know the door is Jesus Christ?
In the Service of Christ,
Pastor Wayne Hall