Revolving Door

When I was a little girl, it was such a treat to go into the city with my mother and my aunt.
We would take the train and spend the day shopping and going out to lunch.
One restaurant I always seemed to ask to go to was Horn and Hardart.
I don’t think it was the food that drew me there…it was the entrance.

Horn and Hardart had a revolving door.

I stood outside on the sidewalk and watched people enter a glass cylinder.
There were four separate doors revolving around the center.
I’m sure my mother and aunt enjoyed watching my face as I tried to figure out how this special door worked.

I remember my mother taking my hand and we walked into one of the spaces together.
When the door rotated halfway from its starting point, we were inside the restaurant.
I looked back to see my aunt stepping in to join us, but instead of coming in the building, she allowed the door to make a full rotation and she was back on the sidewalk.

I must have gotten upset by that…thinking she would never be able to come inside.
One look from my mother…and my aunt never did that again.

Revolving doors are an ingenious way of entering a building.
They are more energy efficient.
Sometimes they are large enough to allow many people to pass through.
Other times, they are small and can only accommodate one person at a time.

If you have grown children, you know how much your house can feel like it has a revolving door.
Who is coming home?…Who is going away?…Who has friends coming over?
It is wonderfully busy…never a dull moment.

But the key to any revolving door is the first step.
You step in…you go half a rotation…you step out.
Destination!

See, I have placed before you an open door that no on can shut. (Revelation 3:8)

We are all out on the sidewalk.
We hear a call to come in.
One at a time we go.
We step inside.

But what if you just stood on the sidewalk and watched?
Others step in…you’re not sure what will happen…you never heard the call.
I will go in another way (you tell yourself)…use another door…maybe around the corner.
But no other doors lead you inside.
There is only one way in!

Or what if you did step in…but have no sense of direction.
You are lost…this is not what you thought.
The door keeps going around and around.
You end up right where you started.

Oh, the futility of a revolving door that goes nowhere.
Around and around like a hamster on a wheel.
Working and working…

Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule, a little here, a little there. Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to His people, to whom He said, “This is the resting place, let the weary rest” and “This is the place of repose” – but they would not listen. So then, the word of the Lord to them will become: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule, a little here, a little there – so they will go and fall backward, be injured, snared and captured. (Isaiah 28:10-13)

Those who think they can earn their way to heaven by their good works, are inside a revolving door…going nowhere.
Restaurant?…Sidewalk?
They are never quite sure.

If I just push the door t-h-i-s much, I will get safely inside.
But it is hard to measure our own pushes.
We may overreach…we may fall short.

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. (Romans 3: 22-24)

What if we relied on the Center Axis to rotate the door?
We are led to go inside…we step in…we put our hands on the glass.
We are just about to give the door a gentle push…but Someone is behind us.

He looks familiar.
He puts His Hand on the glass…and we see that they are scarred.
Beautifully scarred.

We put our hands down…no more striving.
The door begins to move…perfectly rotating.

The light inside is bright.
The Restaurant has tables beautifully set for a Wedding.
We turn to see the One with the scars on His Hand…but He is not there.
He is already inside.
He will dress Himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. (Luke 12:37)

He is the Bridegroom.
But where is the Bride?
We look down and see that we are prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her Husband. (Revelation 21:2)

We have arrived!