Mat 7:7-8 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord gives great encouragement to put into practice all the teaching He has given. Once we have heard the teaching, we feel powerless to follow it. But here the Lord gives the tools: ask, seek, knock. He invites us to make unlimited and continuous use of it. If we really do, we can be sure to be heard. He assures us with the word “for” ( ) that He will respond. ‘Ask’ is the expression of a desire. ‘Seek’ indicates that the desire is not within reach, but that we have to make an effort to get what we want. With ‘knock’ the emphasis is on the one asking being insistent with God and also that a door must be opened, which can be applied to the taking away of an obstacle. The limit to the giving of God is determined by our faith. God is a willing and abundant Giver. His fullness is inexhaustible. His ability to give is unlimited. He says: “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it” ( ). Yet God does not give everything we ask. He only gives what is good. If we ask the Father something, He will not give us something worthless like a stone or dangerous like a snake. His standard is not inferior to that of an earthly father. is a summary of and, in fact, of the whole Old Testament in so far as it speaks of relations with fellow men. Whatever someone else does, my concern is to do him what I want him to do to me. Then I act as a child of my heavenly Father. It does not say: ‘What you don’t want someone does to you, don’t do it to someone else’. That is a negative approach to the other. The Lord presents it positively. This is how it fits in well with what precedes. If the Father gives so generously to us, we will also give generously to others. We can therefore also see these words of the Lord as a summary of Christendom in its expression to our fellow human beings.

‏ Matthew 7:7-8

Ask, Seek, Knock

The Lord gives great encouragement to put into practice all the teaching He has given. Once we have heard the teaching, we feel powerless to follow it. But here the Lord gives the tools: ask, seek, knock. He invites us to make unlimited and continuous use of it. If we really do, we can be sure to be heard. He assures us with the word “for” (Mt 7:8) that He will respond.

‘Ask’ is the expression of a desire. ‘Seek’ indicates that the desire is not within reach, but that we have to make an effort to get what we want. With ‘knock’ the emphasis is on the one asking being insistent with God and also that a door must be opened, which can be applied to the taking away of an obstacle.

The limit to the giving of God is determined by our faith. God is a willing and abundant Giver. His fullness is inexhaustible. His ability to give is unlimited. He says: “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it” (Psa 81:10c). Yet God does not give everything we ask. He only gives what is good. If we ask the Father something, He will not give us something worthless like a stone or dangerous like a snake. His standard is not inferior to that of an earthly father.

Mt 7:12 is a summary of Mt 7:1-11 and, in fact, of the whole Old Testament in so far as it speaks of relations with fellow men. Whatever someone else does, my concern is to do him what I want him to do to me. Then I act as a child of my heavenly Father.

It does not say: ‘What you don’t want someone does to you, don’t do it to someone else’. That is a negative approach to the other. The Lord presents it positively. This is how it fits in well with what precedes. If the Father gives so generously to us, we will also give generously to others. We can therefore also see these words of the Lord as a summary of Christendom in its expression to our fellow human beings.