Obviously, saying yes to God’s invitation does not mean that troubles will cease—not yet—but the presence of your Savior will bear you up until you leave all trouble behind forever. You will let in the Holy Spirit, a loving teacher, guide, and companion. You will let in restored relationships with friends and family. You will let in peace, security, and contentment.

Why not open that door?

Shortly after I came to Shadow Mountain Community Church, the church I now serve as pastor, I became acquainted with a man whose marriage had been on the rocks for some time. The breakup that followed was terrible. The marriage ended in a courtroom with him on one side of the room, his wife and son on the other. Here were the two people he loved more than anyone else in the world, and he was locked in legal combat with them.

Praise God, during the divorce process someone loved him enough to talk with him about the power of God, and he received Jesus Christ as his Savior. He felt the hostility toward his wife and son evaporate like a fog in the summer sun. What had been so thick, so obscuring one moment, became miraculously clear the next. He was in a fever to make peace with the two he loved so deeply.

“It was too late to pick up the pieces of our home, I was sure of that,” he said. “I just wanted them to know how much I loved them—that there was nothing left of anger or resentment in me at all.”

So he went into the courtroom for the final proceedings. Afterward, he saw his son standing near the front. With a lump in his throat, he approached the boy. No words would come; only tears. He reached out to hug his son, but the boy pushed his father roughly away. There would be no embrace.

“Pastor,” he told me, “I’ve never felt pain like that in all my life.”

I’ve thought many times about that story. I’m blessed with a wonderful marriage and loving relationships with my children. I just can’t fathom what this rejected man must have felt. And then I think about our heavenly Father, reaching out to embrace us. What must He feel when we push Him away?

“Here is My gift,” He says. “It’s all I have to give you. I allowed My Son to die on your behalf so you can put your sin problem behind you forever. I want to bring you into My house to live as My child, to be with Me forever. I want to begin blessing you immediately in so many ways.”

How can anyone possibly say no?