As a young man, C. S. Lewis abandoned his childhood faith in God and declared his belief in no religion, saying they were all myths created by man. Years later, after acknowledging Jesus as the Son of God and his Savior, Lewis wrote of that time in his book Surprised By Joy. He said:

"No word in my vocabulary expressed deeper hatred than the word Interference. But Christianity placed at the center what then seemed to me a transcendental Interferer. There was no region even in the innermost depth of one's soul which one could surround with a barbed wire fence and guard with a notice 'No Admittance.' And that was what I wanted; some area, however small, of which I could say to all other beings, 'This is my business and mine only.'"

Every person has the right to say to God, "Leave me alone. Don't bother me." But it is the Lord's right to pursue us with His persistent mercy. To the self-satisfied church at Laodicea, the risen Christ said: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).

By His grace, the Lord keeps knocking, ready to fill our lives with His love.  — David C. McCasland