“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it.”
It’s funny, ever single time I read this verse it strikes me as fascinating. It hits me with revelation every. single. time. It’s just one of those messages in the bible that has been so important in my walk with the Lord. The first thing you notice, is quite obvious, the way to the world is easy and boom, right there for you. The way to the Lord is hidden (I always imagine a little gate hidden between the trees), and small, not quite obvious, and a little more difficult. What I’ve come to realize is that it’s difficult because it’s not very lenient – if you walk this way; there is NO compromise. It completely relates to “if you’re not for Me, you’re against Me” there’s no kinda-sorta walking this path, you walk this path or you fall down onto the broad path where you can run around and do whatever because it’s HUGE, step wherever you want, whenever you want.
The Lord’s path isn’t like that, it’s one foot in front of the other, that’s how narrow it is. You can’t look side to side, because there’s nothing but dense trees, and if you do, maybe you’ll catch a glimpse of the path way down there, get kind of interested and forget to put your foot in front of your other foot. I just want to look at the path ahead of me, because that’s the only one that matters, especially because there’s something there. Here’s the easy part though; there’s only one way to get to the end, and it’s this narrow path that you just have to keep moving forward on. No if’s, ands, or buts on this trail, just you, your feet, and that glorious prize.
I think of the broad path as one huge grey zone; there’s no clarity anywhere really, no urgency, no… well, no true life I suppose. I think it’s much easier to live that way; without a purpose, without a destination (without a true sense of one anyway, many people would say “I do have purpose, and a destination” then they’d go off describing a goal that they PERSONALLY have). When I talk about a purpose and a destination, I’m talking about the purpose to love God, and the destination to be with God. Without those, you can do whatever you want, it’s easy to live in the fleshly mindset, the Godly mindset, is right and true, but your flesh wants to win. It’s a constant battle, every day for Spirit to win. The narrow path is black and white, yes or no, good decision or bad decision. When you think about black or white decisions, it seems easier; unfortunately, you usually want a lot of the black decisions. Tough. It’s disappointing a lot, but so worth it.
I could honestly go on about this verse, there’s so much detail and revelation hidden inside of it. So much to discover; but I love that the Lord reminds me about this verse when I’m struggling between my flesh and Spirit. I want what my flesh wants, but my Spirit is screaming NO. The Lord’s subtle voice comes in and says “narrow is the road and difficult is the way which leads to life…” It’s all I need to remember who I am and where I’m going.
The Lord is good.
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