July 7, 2024
I was quite surprised this morning to learn how many people had no idea of what it meant to “penny” a door. After all, this was a stock freshman trick fifty-odd years ago when I was in college. It would get you into real trouble today because it really is a bit stupid and a lot dangerous.
Our dorm doors opened inward; that’s key. You could lock a person in his own room simply by pushing on the door and jamming pennies between the door and the frame just above the door handle. If you did it right, it would be nearly impossible for whoever was inside to turn the knob and open the door. Of course, as I said this morning, if a fire broke out, whoever was inside would be toast…literally.
My point is that we do the same thing to God. While he stands at our heart’s door knocking (Revelation 3:20), we jam in the pennies of life to keep him out. Almost worthless, we hold onto grudges, hurts, grievances, or prestige, power, and popularity, or even the baubles of property, possessions, and pensions, jamming them like the worthless pennies they are in the door through which Jesus wants to bless us with his own presence.
It’s a stupid freshman trick, but here we are, years later, doing the very same thing in real life. It’s a shame because as Jesus says in Revelation, “If we will hear his voice and open the door, he will come in, and dine with us, and we with him.” Dinner with Jesus, the choicest delicacies are awaiting us, but we jam those pennies in the door, keeping him out. How foolish can we be?
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