Tuesday, March 4, 2014 THE NARROW ROAD TO LIFE Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (NIVUK) Jesus described two roads, but only one was safe. Most people travelled on the broad road; it was wide enough to accommodate everybody. They did not necessarily choose the path, they just followed everybody else. The way onto that path was well trodden, without any obstructions, and gave no reason at all why it might terminate at the edge of a precipice - the crush of the crowd forcing the people in front of them over the cliff to disaster. The second road was much narrower. Even so, it was not crowded. The entrance to that path was not easy to locate; people had to search until they found it. At the end of the narrow path, it widened out to a remarkable place which was full of life. On the face of it, the choice of which road is obvious: the one which ends in life. But most people were not on that road. Jesus instructed His listeners to enter the narrow gate. That required an active choice: to ignore the wide gate and abandon the broad way. However, the narrow gate was hidden to most people; only those who sought it out would find it - hence the command to search for the gate and enter it (Matthew 7:7). Most people live for the moment. They cannot see the consequences of their actions and unless they have instructions from God, they cannot know what lies at the end of the road. That is why the Bible has been written, to tell us the things we cannot otherwise know; things which are critical to our eternal future. Those two roads still exist. Everybody is on one or the other. And most people are on the broad road which goes far away from God, never passes the cross of Christ and leads to hell. By contrast, the narrow gate is the one-by-one entry point to eternal life, as we surrender our sins to Christs blood and our lives to Christs glory. Its destination is the presence of God. But it is a hard choice to enter and to stay on that path. Our friends and colleagues will mock us, our family may reject us and the world will think we are fools. Persecution will be normal, loneliness may be frequent, and life in the fast lane will seem to pass us by. But God will be our friend, Jesus will be our advocate and the Holy Spirit will be our comforter: instead of hell, we find heaven at the end of the road. Instead of isolation, we will gather with millions of other believers. So, enter the narrow gate, stay on the narrow way and encourage your friends and colleagues to do the same
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 09:29:43 +0000