Do you feel like you are reminding your family to do the same thing over and over?
This one closet door in our house is a good example.
I have given verbal directions. I have used a variety of different notes. I have used an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and taped it a few inches above the doorknob so that it actually flopped over the door knob and my family HAD to see it to open the door.
It has improved. But still I occasionally (okay, semi-weekly) find the door nearly closed instead of closed. Today, I was trying a new tactic by spreading out my message across three separate and colorful sticky notes, with the added authority of a Biblical reference.
As I did, the Lord, as He so often does, showed me that we all have doors that need our faithfulness. We need to close the door to any thought that would contradict God’s word. We need to close the door to temptations that the devil would send to trip us up and hurt us or others. We have a right and the responsibility to close the door to any side effect of spiritual death that the Enemy would try to bring…but that has been conquered in the resurrection of Jesus.
We can look at these doors in two ways. Number one: there are so many doors and it is a lot of work to check them all the time. Or two: it is a little thing that yields great results.
Even though we keep our house doors locked, I always check them at night before I go to bed. I just do a quick walk and check the front door, the door to the garage, and the back door. I confirm that each one is locked and keep going. I don’t have to spend more than a few seconds at each place. Typically, I am the one that does this door check, and in our own minds and lives, we certainly can’t wait on someone else to check the doors for us! We have to be responsible for our own doors. And, as parents, we have a degree of responsibility for the doors in our children’s lives.
I don’t check the doors out of fear. Whether it is the doors on our foundation-walls-and-roof home, or whether it is the doors in our family relationships or the doors of my own thoughts, I check them because I can and I should and it is my responsibility––even God can’t lock them for me, though He certainly speaks to me and prompts me and reminds me.
It is a little thing to check the doors, but that little thing demonstrates great value for everything those doors can access.
2 Corinthians 10:5: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
Proverbs 4:23: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
Jill is a homeschooling mom of four children: one graduate, two in Challenge, and one in F/E. She has served as a tutor in Foundations and Essentials, and currently serves as a Challenge A director. She enjoys connecting with people to celebrate the goodness of God and the beauty of education – and if laughter is involved, then all the better!
