The Narrow Way
You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. (Matthew 7:13–14)
Let me ask you, is that difficult to understand? Compared with the philosophical meanderings of our times, including all the convoluted, obtuse opinions of various intellectuals representing a broad spectrum of human thought, Jesus’ comment reads like a child’s primer. And because it does, sophisticated intellectuals look down their noses and sneer. To them it lacks the mind-capturing nuances of deep thought they find stimulating. How could something as basic as a narrow gate interest broad-minded thinkers? It doesn’t, quite honestly. Not if they are caught up in the quest for knowledge for knowledge’s sake.
At the risk of sounding terribly simplistic to all eggheads, let me call attention to Jesus’ words regarding one’s ultimate destination. To make the plain painfully clear, Jesus spoke of only two conclusions to one’s earthly life.
- The wide gate/broad way leads to destruction.
- The small gate/narrow way leads to life.
The broad, wide path may seem the only way to travel; however, to do so without taking into serious account its ultimate destination is dreadfully shortsighted. All the mental stimulation and intellectual excitement of scholarship notwithstanding, if that is all there is the end is disastrous.
“Enter by the narrow gate . . . the way is narrow that leads to life.” What, exactly, does that mean? Elsewhere, Jesus speaks in similar terms as He addresses the same subject of enjoying eternal life with God. “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9 NASB). Here Jesus refers to Himself as “the door.”
I take it that this means precisely what it says: If an individual hopes to spend eternity with God after death, faith in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection is the only way to make that happen. If you really desire a life worth living—the kind of simple faith I have been writing about—you need to start with Christ, placing your trust in Him and Him alone. There is no other alternative that guarantees you immediate forgiveness of sins and an eternal home in heaven.
Taken from Simple Faith by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 1991, 2003 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com
