Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

The origin of covenant meals goes back into the distant past where two opposing factions come to terms, made a covenant with one another and shared a meal, to seal the deal.

John 14:23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Answering the door and having the covenant meal does not mean Jesus has taken up residence with us.

Ephesians 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

Planting has to occur before rooting can take place.

Ephesians 3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

The Spirit must be given before He can accomplish that task.

Before we go too far afield I want to ask, how do you know it is Jesus knocking at the door?

James 1:21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

This verse is in the ESV. My question is for me as much as it is for anyone.

Does rampant describe my understanding of wickedness, not as I see it in the world but in me?

Other versions for this verse use the words superfluity, overflowing, remains, prevalent, growth, abounding, abundance, all, expression, remains, and excess.

Those are all adverbs which are meant to modify or qualify the word in question, in this case wickedness.

In order to put away a behavior we find in ourselves we should be able to relate to the behavior.

Are there wicked things in us that do not need a qualifier?

What I discover in myself is those fleeting thoughts that are not worthy of pondering because the adverbs only apply to my old man and not the new man in me. Those things come and go because of the only adverb that counts, implanted.

His implanted word is the reason the old man in me is nothing more than a fleeting memory.