Much is said these days about the power of vulnerability.

And with good reason — the power is real. Twice this week in different contexts I’ve experienced it firsthand. It’s remarkable how fast the fruit of relational connection grows when someone takes a healthy risk of opening up. 

(Nathan Foster offers practical ways here on how to practice availability and vulnerability.)

God is looking for people who are humble, who are honest with themselves and others, who freely open their hearts to him. Breaking in isn’t God’s way. Just as to the church in Laodicea, Jesus says to us, ​“I stand at the door and knock.”

On the podcast this week — an episode with much vulnerability—Carolyn Arends reflects on her journey with the church calendar. She discovered that ​“Advent and Lent are like little door jambs to crack open a little space in our hearts and minds… If you give God the tiniest opening, it’s amazing what he can do with it.”

This is the climactic week of our faith, the pressure cooker called the Passion. May the humility and vulnerability of Christ crack open your heart that his life may flow more freely into you and out of you to the world.