Dr. Joshua Todd

We’ve walked through the five doors of love (Each blog is linked so you can read it)

Each door reveals a way that love reaches into the heart. Love doesn't stay in theory. It moves. It shows up. It unlocks. But if we’re honest, many of us have tried to walk through those doors and still felt stuck. We’ve knocked, prayed, fasted, cried, and repeated cycles, wondering why love didn’t flow freely.

It’s not because the doors were wrong. It’s because we forgot to carry the key.

The key is mercy.

What We Forgot About Mercy

Mercy is not an escape hatch. It’s not a theological loophole. It’s not just for the desperate or the fallen.

Mercy is the posture of God. It’s how He moves toward us when we are weakest, most fragile, or most wrong. It’s how He sees us even when we have nothing to offer. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God didn’t show him power or fire. He showed him His nature.

“The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth…” (Exodus 34:6)

Mercy isn’t God letting you off the hook. Mercy is the way He pulls you back into His heart. It’s His movement toward you, not His detachment from your mess.

Love Without Mercy Stops Short

Without mercy, love gets reduced to behavior management. It can start well, but it won’t finish whole. It loses its tenderness. It becomes rigid, cautious, and guarded. It starts evaluating worth instead of recognizing value.

When we try to love without mercy, we start handing out advice where God would have offered a hug. We become more interested in being right than in restoring others. We use truth like a tool, but without the oil of mercy, it only wounds.

This is where love begins to break down. Not because it isn’t sincere, but because it isn’t sustained.

Mercy: The Only Key That Fits

If the five doors of love are real (and they are), then mercy is the key that unlocks each one. Without it, you’re stuck holding a revelation you cannot enter. But with it, doors that once felt sealed shut begin to open.

Let’s take a closer look.

1. Proactive Passion

Mercy moves first. It doesn’t wait for the apology or the improvement. It loves before the other person is ready. Mercy is what pushes love to knock on the door before there is a welcome mat. It doesn’t ask, “Are you worth it?” It asks, “Can I go lower to lift you?” Love comes down.

2. Truth in Love

Mercy prepares the heart to hear truth without rejection. It makes room for correction that doesn’t crush. Without mercy, truth feels like punishment. With mercy, truth becomes healing. You don’t have to soften the truth when mercy is present. You just have to be willing to deliver it with the same compassion Jesus used.

3. Radical Forgiveness

This one is mercy in action. Forgiveness cannot happen without mercy moving through your veins. Mercy is what allows you to say, “You don’t owe me anymore,” even when it still hurts. Forgiveness releases the person who wronged you. Mercy releases the version of you that was shaped by their failure.

4. Joyful Endurance in Weakness

Mercy doesn’t look away when it gets ugly. It stays. It bears with. It believes again. Mercy lets you endure with joy because you're no longer measuring progress with pressure. You're measuring it with presence. Mercy knows that love matures slowly and stays near through every stage of growth.

5. Identity Affirmation

Mercy is what lets you call out the gold when all you see is dust. It helps you speak identity when behavior still looks messy. It doesn’t ignore the issue, but it refuses to define someone by it. Mercy reminds people who they are, not just what they’ve done. It sees the image of God when others only see the evidence of failure.

This Is How Jesus Loved

Jesus never separated love from mercy. When He restored the woman caught in adultery, He didn’t just protect her. He dignified her. When Peter denied Him, Jesus didn’t correct him first. He made breakfast. When Thomas doubted, Jesus didn’t dismiss him. He offered His wounds as proof.

This is mercy. It’s not just passive kindness. It’s intentional presence. Mercy steps into the broken space and offers connection instead of correction. It doesn't deny what happened. It just chooses not to let what happened define what is possible.

When Doors Stay Closed

Some of you have been trying to love well but keep hitting walls. You’ve given truth, shown passion, offered identity, and even forgiven. But something still isn’t flowing.

Look again. You may be holding the right message but missing the key.

Mercy is the key that keeps you from walking away too soon. It is the difference between love that burns out and love that burns brighter. It is the permission slip that lets others return without fear. It is the reminder that you don’t need perfection to keep walking with people.

Mercy doesn’t rush. It doesn’t resent. And it doesn’t give up.

The Invitation: Pick Up the Key

What if love isn’t failing? What if it’s just locked?

Pick up the key again.

If you’ve withheld mercy from others or from yourself, this is the moment to reach again. You cannot earn the key. You can only receive it. But once you hold it, you can open the doors love has been knocking on all along.

Start with the person who hurt you.
Start with the part of you that still feels ashamed.
Start with the relationship that has gone silent.

Start with Jesus, who never let go of you.

Because mercy doesn’t just open doors. It opens hearts.

Coming Next:
We will walk through each of the five doors again, one by one, and show how mercy is the entry point into the deepest forms of love we are called to give and receive.

Until then, remember this:

You were never asked to love perfectly.
You were invited to love mercifully.
That is what keeps love moving.

And love that keeps moving is the kind that transforms everything it touches.

The Key of Mercy & The Only Way Love Gets Through the Door