What if Jesus knocked on your front door one day and told you that He had a job for you? How would you respond? What if Jesus, sitting in that big easy-chair in your living room, personally invited you to join Him in a project? How would you respond?
Actually, there are many examples of something similar to that happening to men and women in the Bible. It seems God has a habit of knocking on the doors of people’s hearts and asking them to join Him on a mission. The Bible tells us many people said yes, but I wonder how many ignored His invitation.
Take Abram (later named Abraham), for example. So, when God showed up at Abram’s house in Ur of the Chaldeans, Abram was a pagan idol worshipper. The Lord instructed Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). If Abram agreed to follow God, there was a promise of great benefits. Abram said yes (Genesis 12).
Moses is a great example. He grew up as a prince in the palace of the Pharaoh of Egypt. He killed an Egyptian slave-master and fled to the land of Midian. While tending sheep on a mountain top on the backside of the desert, the Lord spoke to him from a burning bush. God assigned Moses the tasks of confronting Pharaoh and then leading the Hebrew people from slavery to a new life of freedom. Reluctantly, Moses said yes (Exodus 3).
God knocked on the door of Isaiah’s heart as he grieved the death of the good king, Uzziah, and called him to be a prophet (Isaiah 5:1-7). In another example, Jeremiah was about nineteen years old when God spoke to him. “Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations’” (Jeremiah 1:4-5). Jeremiah said yes.
The Lord approached other men and women of the Old Testament in similar ways. But let’s look into the New Testament now. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were professional fishermen. Fishing was how they earned a living. One day while they were fishing, Jesus came to them and said, “Come follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mark 1:16-20). They immediately said yes.
One final example is the Apostle Paul. Paul, originally Saul, is recognized today as one of the greatest Christian missionaries. He wrote a large percentage of the New Testament and is well-known for his missionary journeys. Prior to that, Paul was known as the great persecutor of Christians. While on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians, Saul suddenly and unexpectedly met Jesus. When Jesus knocked, Paul said yes (Acts 9:3–9).
I could list more, but I want to remind you of what the Lord said to Jeremiah. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Paul wrote, “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him (1 Corinthians 7:17). Peter wrote, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). The point is that He speaks to all of us and calls us to His plan and purpose for our lives.
Actually, Jesus does knock on the doors of our hearts. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). What is your answer? Are you saying YES to Him?