Locked doors and hearts

This sentence sequence has always attracted me, astonished me, intrigued me...."It was late that Sunday evening and the disciples were gathered together behind locked doors, because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities. Then Jesus came and stood among them."

Note what isn't there. No mention of Jesus opening that dang door. Did he simply appear? Did he make it through the locked door? Or did the writer simply forget to mention that?

In any case, I think the more important part of the sequence is the fact that the disciples were gathered together behind locked doors.

Frankly, I think my churches are doing the same. They, me, are not bringing new people in, and I wonder if it is because we've locked our doors to the non-believing public.

But it's not just that. We've, many of us, locked our own doors and even the doors of our hearts to Jesus. Oh, we say we haven't, but like me, we don't put in the time or the discipline to actually worship him or develop a deeper relationship with him. I'm going to a retreat next week to do that very thing, and honestly, I don't know that I can even do what they propose we can do. My heart is closed and I haven't gotten in the car yet.

I read this recently: "Many have suggested God respects locked doors and the heart is always locked from the inside with no handle on the outside. I suggest God will respect our choice without the locks, and, at the same time appear in our hearts to shine a little light through the windows of our minds—like sunshine comes into a dark room to make it brighten—unless we pull the shades. He won’t come live with us without an invitation, but He will knock in some unique ways. And when we’ve atrophied our will to the point that we no longer have the ability to open the door to Him, He will just appear next to us on the floor where we’ve fallen, if we call to Him for help."

Where's my key?