Busy Signals

W

hat is more annoying than receiving a busy signal when you are desperately trying to reach someone?  Have you ever had this experience?  You have an important piece of news, you need some information, or you just need to place a particular call.  All your efforts are in vain, however, because each time you dial the phone you get that awful sound that just grates on your nerves.

I had that experience several times just recently.  I was trying to reach a good friend, just to check up on him and to say hello.  Every time I phoned, however, the line was busy.  I tried several times during the day and each time it was the same thing, busy.  At one point, I became so frustrated; I just started dialing his number in rapid-fire succession.  I would dial the number, get a busy signal, hang up and then dial again. I kept at this for almost thirty minutes straight, finally giving up out of sheer annoyance.

I went to get some lunch and when I came back, my friend had called.  I was so excited to hear his voice.  Immediately I picked up the phone and dialed his number.  Guess what?  You guessed it, the line was busy.  I started the process all over again, finally giving up after twenty minutes.  The line remained busy and I had absolutely no success in reaching my friend that afternoon.  All my efforts were to no avail and I quit calling him because the line was occupied.

Have you ever stopped to consider that our lives resemble my friend’s telephone line?  We are always busy, always running about, always tying up the communication lines of life.  We are involved in so many things that we hardly have a free moment in the day.  Our answering machines get clogged with messages, our e-mail accounts get back-logged, and the mail piles up on our desks.  We fail to keep in contact with friends and family and every time they try to reach us we are too busy to spend time with them.

Did you know that Jesus addressed this very issue in scripture?  Would it surprise you to learn that God makes several attempts on a daily basis to try and reach us?  However, He finds it very difficult to get through because the telephone lines of our hearts are always busy, occupied with so many other things.  God, however, just keeps dialing, trying ever so desperately to make contact with us.  He doesn’t grow frustrated.  With patience and love He just keeps dialing.  We, however, are unaware of His attempts and we grow frustrated that we haven’t heard from Him on a regular basis.  But the fault is not His; it is ours.

Revelation 3:20 paints a vivid picture of this truth.  Jesus makes the following observation in this passage of scripture, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”  Notice first of all Jesus’ desire.  He wants to come in, desperately.  Jesus wants a relationship with us.  This is not a casual relationship but an honest, forthright, deeply abiding friendship.  I don’t stop by the house of an acquaintance and invite myself to dinner, but at a friend’s home, I am always welcome.  Jesus wants to be that friend to us.

So, he stands at the door of our hearts and knocks. However, there is an important condition we must meet if we are to spend time with him and meeting that condition depends on us.  Jesus says that if we hear his voice, he will come in.  Did you notice the use of the largest small word in the English language, if!  If means that we have a choice.  If means that the responsibility for inviting Jesus in rests with us.  However, if we are so busy, if our lives are so full of stuff, if our minds are so preoccupied with the little things of life, we won’t hear his voice.  Consequently, we don’t open the door and we miss the wonderful opportunity of sharing and visiting with him.  Just imagine how God feels when we have no time for Him.  However, when we do make contact, we leave a message and then we get busy again and He can’t get through to us.  How frustrating this must be for Him!

Yet, Jesus does not give up on us.  He stays at that door, knocking over and over.  Here is there today, gently rapping against the door of your heart.  Won’t you take a few minutes and just listen?  His knocks come in the forms of ministry opportunities, phone calls from friends and family, strangers’ questions, and times of silent prayer and reflection.  Do you have any time in your life today for God?  Can you make an effort to clear some of the busy phone lines of your life?  Will you drop other things that are seemingly more important in order to spend time with your Heavenly Father?  Excuse me, I think I hear someone knocking at my door!