Thresholds of Grace

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7 NIV

Doors—those everyday thresholds we pass through without a second thought. They guard our homes, frame our comings and goings, and quietly shape the boundary between welcome and withdrawal. We open and close them countless times, rarely pausing to consider their quiet power—to protect, to invite, to decide who enters.

In today’s verse, Jesus offers a radical invitation: “Knock, and the door will be opened to you.” He doesn’t peer through a peephole or screen us with suspicion—as we so often do. Instead, he flings the door wide, arms open, heart ready. To him, we are not strangers. Through the Father, he knows us intimately—our stories, our wounds, our longings. He’s been waiting for our knock, eager to welcome us in.

But this invitation calls for action on our part. We must ask, seek, and knock. Grace is freely offered, but it is not passive—it beckons us to respond, to participate, to step across the threshold.

In Revelation 3:20, John the Revelator extends the message of grace: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Christ not only opens his door to us—he stands patiently at ours, waiting to be let in. 

Just as Christ welcomes us in, he also longs to be accepted into our souls. He does not force entry—he waits for our invitation. Faith is a partnership: God initiates, and we respond. The door opens from both sides.

Faith isn’t a door we crack open on Sundays and bolt shut the rest of the week. It’s meant to remain ajar—an open invitation to communion.

Thresholds are sacred places. They mark the moment we move from isolation to connection, from fear to trust. And grace, true grace, meets us right there—at the edge of our hesitation, ready to usher us in.

Christ of the open door, you do not hesitate or hold back—you welcome us with grace that defies our shame. Teach us to keep the doors of our hearts unlatched, to listen for your knock in quiet moments, and to invite you in—not just once, but again and again, until your presence becomes our dwelling place. Amen.

Peace & Grace,

Pastor Tim