Scripture of the Day
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” — John 10:9
Reflection
Jacob had a dream in the wilderness of angels ascending and descending, heaven opened above a patch of bare ground -- so Jacob, when he awoke, poured oil on the stone he had slept on. He called the place Bethel: house of God. Not because the location was holy. Because God had been there.
Jesus used the same image for himself. "I am the gate," he said. The gateway to the Father, to forgiveness, to the anointed life, to the fullness of what we were made for -- it is a person.
The destination is an encounter with the living Christ -- the one who looks up into the tree where we are hiding, who walks through the wilderness we are lost in, who pours oil on the ordinary stones of our lives and makes them holy.
The anointed life is not a life you achieve. It is a life you receive, from the one who gave his anointed life so that yours could be anointed too. It is available -- right here, right now, in whatever ordinary moment you are standing in.
You don't have to be in a sanctuary. Jacob wasn't. You just need to be awake enough to see that you are already standing at the gate of heaven.
Jesus is the gate to real life.
Question for Personal Reflection
Where has Christ shown up in your ordinary life in ways you might have previously missed?
Action Step
Pour a small amount of oil on your hands as Jacob poured oil on his stone -- as a symbolic act of consecrating your ordinary life to the God who inhabits it.
Prayer
Lord, you are the gate. We walk through you into the life we were made for. Anoint our everyday lives -- the rock we sleep on, the tree we climb, the table we sit at -- with your presence. We are standing on holy ground. Amen.
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