Use The Key

“And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 16:19


This passage from Matthews gospel came to mind yesterday after returning home from helping a friend from church who left her garage door open earlier in the morning when she went to work. I walked into the garage and hit the button on the garage door and instead of doing what I normally do which is to run as fast as I can and step over the safety light that signals the electric door opener that an object is in its path I decided I would just go out the back door of the garage and walk out the side gate. I watched the garage door come down and then locked the back door as I exited only to find the gate had a padlock on it. I walked around the house to the other side and low and behold, another lock on that gate too. Now I am stuck.

My neighbor had one of those 6 feet tall grape stake fences that were popular back in the 1960’s when the house was built. It was raining outside and I figured the only way out was to climb the fence which immediately took me back to my childhood days as we had the same kid of fence in the house I grew up in so I had done this hundreds of times before. Take into account that was over fifty years ago but I still knew what to do. I climbed up on the top of the fence and grabbed onto the roof for stability, or at least as much stability someone can have standing on a fence that is one inch wide, six feet tall in the rain.

When I went to jump I slipped and fell headfirst towards the flower bed below. The fence post I had been holding onto came loose and I could hear the sound of the nail pulling away from the board it was nailed too. Having a wrestling background, there are some things you do instinctively, and as I rotated my body to land on my shoulder and not my head I came to rest on my back in the mud (as it was still raining) in the flowerbed below. I still had the fence post in hand. I lay there for a moment looking around hoping none of the neighbors just witnessed what had happened and then I got up slowly as my shoulder and leg hurt from the fall.

Upon returning home I text my neighbor to let her know what had happened. She asked me if I were Ok and then she preceded to ask me how come I didn’t use the key? I had forgotten she gave my wife and I a key after she moved into the house in case something like this ever happened. It was at that moment when the words of Jesus came to mind, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom”. Religion is hard in its attempt to be pleasing to God. It’s a lot like climbing over a wet fence in the rain. The end result is going to be painful, flat on your back so to speak in the mud. Religion has never pleased God.

God desires a relationship with us and He Himself has provided the keys to us so that we could enjoy fellowship with Him. The keys Jesus provide open the door, and the door into the Father’s house is none other than Jesus Himself who is the foundation of truth that we read of in John 10:7-9, “Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”

Use the key today, friend, build your life on the security of God’s Word. Trust what your Bible says and unlike standing on the top of the wet fence of religion that will most certainly fail you, stand on the faithful promises of God. The keys Jesus spoke of are not literal keys but rather biblical truths that are foundational to everything else. The key to proper understanding of the Bible is to have a proper understanding of who Jesus is. Jesus, who was fully God and fully man is the only source of salvation. He is the key to eternal life. He is the key to the knowledge of God for if you have seen Jesus you have seen the Father. Jesus is the key to peace and joy and the very purpose of our existence. Jesus you can say is the Master Key that unlocks every door. Let me remind you today like my friend reminded me yesterday, use the key! Jesus is the key!

“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

Matthew 16:18


I LOVE YOU!