Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock

Author  S. C. Biela

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This book is a very interesting and inspirational read.  It is written from a Catholic perspective but it applies to all people in the world.   In this book the author discusses how Jesus stands at the door to our soul and knocks.  He says that to receive God into our souls we must listen for His knocking and open the door.  God will not force us to do this.

                The book is broken into two parts and four sections with seven chapters.  The first part is the light of truth.  In this part he tells us that our soul is like a whitewashed tomb.  We clean it and prepare it on the outside until it is clean and white.  We think this makes us clean and pure and ready to be seen by the world.  In reality it is only the outside of the tomb that is clean.  On the inside it is filled with sin and evil.

                God will use experiences and events to show us how our souls really look to Him.  He gives us the light on our souls to learn that we need to depend on Him for the help we need so desperately.  We must accept Him and allow Him in to help though.  He will not force His way into our souls to help cleanse us.

                Our biggest problem and barrier to God and His help is our own pride.  We believe that we are the ones who do everything and we don’t need God to help us.  When this is our attitude, God can not come into our souls.  We must be like Mary and be God’s servant for Him to be able to help us.  Mary was humble and allowed God to use her as she was needed.

                Part B of the book is about having a childlike humility.  According to the author, we need to be childlike and have a childlike faith.  We need to believe Jesus’ words even if we really do not understand them fully.  His example was the Samaritan woman at the well.  She did not fully understand what Jesus told her, but she believed and went to tell others about Him.  Pride stands in the way with this because we do not understand it. 

                He also tells us that Jesus must come first and we must be second.  He uses John the Baptist as an example.  John the Baptist said in John 3:30 “He must increase; I must decrease.”  He lost his followers to Jesus.  He was thrown into prison.  He was not allowed to actually follow Jesus even though everything he did lead up to Jesus’ ministry.  We need to let go of our pride and be like John the Baptist.

                This book gives a person from beginner to the older Christian a lot of spiritual guidance.  It gives you a lot to think about and try to follow.  It is a wonderful spiritual resource for any Christian.  It is very thought provoking.

Review contributed by Jacqueline Bethune.  She is a member of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in York Nebraska.  She is an avid reader of spiritual and contemporary literature, crochets for charity, and works in a group home for troubled boys in York Nebraska.

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