“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”
— John 10:9

Today I’m meditating on what Jesus means when He says that He is the door.

To understand this image, it helps to step back into its original context. In ancient Israel, shepherds would often guard their sheep at night by lying down across the narrow opening of the sheepfold. There was no wooden gate. The shepherd himself became the door—keeping the sheep in and the danger out. How beautiful that Jesus would ultimately lay His life down for His sheep.

A door always does two things at once: it permits and it prevents. It allows certain things in, keeps other things out, and governs movement between inside and outside. When we belong to Jesus’ flock, we acknowledge Him as our door. Just as I pass in and out of my home through a doorway, Jesus becomes the way I engage the world and the way I return to rest.

To say that Jesus is the door means that I belong. I am guarded and protected. And I live under His loving authority.

And if Jesus is the door, then He doesn’t just let me in—He also governs how I live. I don’t climb in through windows or find alternative entrances. I submit to His way. His will shapes my decisions, my thoughts, my habits, and my desires. So whose voice am I listening to? Who gets to define what is good? What names success, failure, identity, and worth in my life—Jesus, or the world?

Jesus as the door also means I don’t have to remain constantly on guard. I can rest. That image of the shepherd lying down at the entrance is striking—he guards so the sheep can sleep. Am I trusting God to guard my life, or do I live as though everything depends on my striving, producing, and protecting? I wonder if some of our collective anxiety has to do with the voices we allow into our lives—and whether we’ve forgotten to let Jesus be our door.

But Jesus doesn’t say that we stay in the sheepfold forever. We enter through Him, and then we go in and out to find pasture. The very next verse says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

Life under the authority of Jesus isn’t small or confined—it’s guided. After we enter through the door, the way we come and go is shaped by God’s wisdom and goodness. A life found in Jesus is not dull or restrictive; it is soul-satisfying and purpose-filled. In Him, we learn to receive abundance as God defines it.

Jesus as the door means I don’t just enter once—I live my whole life through Him.

Jesus, thank You for being my door.
Thank You for guarding my life and giving me a place to rest.
Today, I choose to trust Your loving authority—
to come and go under Your care,
and to listen first to Your voice.
Amen.