“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.” Matthew 7:13
As you go through the world, you’ll notice that people are sort of going with the flow. Everyone has their own goals and agendas of course; but there seems to be an agreed upon reality that all people are living in, in which it is blatantly foreign to speak of Jesus Christ or his death and resurrection.
People will talk about almost anything throughout the course of the day, but if you run across a person who wants to talk about Jesus, your brain usually goes into awkward mode. You have to fake a smile and laugh it off, or talk about where you went to church, or what religion your family traditionally claims, or in some way mitigate the pain of hearing about a topic that should be on everyone’s lips. Not just religion, but Jesus Christ himself.
Isn’t the death and resurrection of Christ the only way a person can know God and find everlasting peace? Don’t we know that there is a Heaven and a hell, and if we accept and rejoice in Christ, we will spend forever in Heaven. Don’t we remember that if we are ashamed of Jesus and his words, he will be ashamed of us, and we will spend eternity in hell?
If all these things are true, why is it so awkward or painful when the topic of Jesus is brought up? Why is the first instinct to ostracize the Christian or make a joke when they attempt to reach out? Why does the very discussion of a real Savior feel so foreign and rare? It’s because we live in a fallen world that has systematically rejected Jesus.
The general population of the world is not walking with God daily, and they’ve set up their own routines that allow them to work, eat, sleep, repeat, without ever being disturbed by the truth. It’s like when someone doesn’t want to wake up because the dream they are having is more engrossing then their real day will be. People, without knowing it, are casually walking the wide path, through the wide gate, taking the path of least resistance right into eternal damnation. It sounds harsh, but against what God offers (love and forgiveness), there is no way to sugarcoat the rejection we offer him.
After Jesus tells us how wide the path to destruction is, he says this: “For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:14)
Why is the gate that leads to life so narrow, and the path so constricted? Because people will reject peace with Christ simply on the basis of what he might ask them to do! Or they reject the way because they don’t want to give up the habitual sins that comfort them. In a cold world, they’ve left the campfire that God provides, and have found a way to kindle their own fires to warm them, and they’re “just happy enough” with that, no matter how poorly the fire burns.
C.S. Lewis describes living in sin like this: “We are half hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
The good news is that God offers not only salvation from our sins and escape from hell; he offers joy. He says that if he gave up his one and only son for us, how much more will he give us all other things? His love is a cosmic force that blasts away any and all forces that would try to drag us to hell or injure our souls.
Imagine having the God of the Universe to be your Father.
If you fear what God may ask you to do, remember that Jesus said “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30) God will not ask you to do anything he won’t give you the ability to endure. You will find as you do for God, he constantly gives you strength. If you fear giving up the paltry sins you now comfort yourself with, learn to believe with the Psalmist, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at you right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)
God’s very presence will comfort and rejoice your heart. The path to life is narrow because it requires tough choices and the giving up of self. But upon so doing, Christ’s yoke becomes easy and his burden light, because the Father’s presence gives us joy in the hard choices, and peace through the storm.
