From today's devotional
Keys represent privilege, trust and authority. When a teenager receives the keys to the family car, a distinct turning point has been reached. Growth, preparedness, training and trust converge in the release of this expensive vehicle unto the care and use of a son or daughter. It’s a big day, but also a weighty moment, for the authority being granted could be as destructive as it is beneficial. Is the child ready?
When Jesus said He would give His disciples “the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” He based it on each one’s coming to the same place of understanding Peter had reached when he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). In other words, “the keys” are given to people who fully recognize Jesus as their King, and who yield to His rule as the mandate for their own lives. It is then that He says, “Now I am transmitting to you a representative role".
As keys give access, He opens a new arena of possibility for us. As keys verify trust, He entrusts arenas of service to us. And just as keys ignite, lock and loose, Christ sends us to people and circumstances waiting to be ‘turned on,’ ‘closed in’ and ‘set free.’ Let’s keep learning about these keys.
