Aiming for the door
This week's verses are Matthew 7:13-14:
These verses are from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. He's talking about the intentional aspect our faith should have. We shouldn't just be Christians because everyone else is a Christian. If we just follow the crowd, we get what the crowd gets, and that's not always the right thing. You've probably heard the old saying "None of us is as dumb as all of us." The crowd will take you to mediocrity and sometimes even to your death.
The wide road is permissive and forgiving. You can weave all around on it and still be on the path. You don't feel lost because there are so many other people all traveling to where you are traveling. It's easy to tell the right road, because everyone is on it. Except that's the road to Hell.
The narrow road requires you to pay attention. If you weave around on the narrow road, you could end up in the ditch. You also have less reassurance that you're on the right path. How do you feel when you're going somewhere and the GPS sends you down some random one-lane road? Pretty lost, right? Until you get to where you were going and realize it was the right path all along. The narrow road sometimes requires you to listen to that outside guidance in order to find your way.
Many enter through the wide gate. It's easy to spot because everyone seems to be going there. How many of those people are just following the crowd, though? People follow fashions like schools of fish or flocks of birds. They can change direction suddenly, and the ones in the back don't necessarily know where the ones way up front are going. Have you ever been in a line so big that you couldn't tell if it was even the right line? That's society.
You sort of have to look around for the small gate though. It's like the side door. You have to be awake and following directions. There's nobody shoving from behind you to make you go faster to get there. Not many people get to that door.
When you make decisions, which strategy do you use? Do you just follow the crowd, do the easiest thing, and follow the safest-looking path of least resistance? Or do you move with intention, trying to follow the path God has set out for us?
Think about your day today. Which of the things you did and the decisions you made were purposeful, and which were just the default? How did you eat? How did you react to things? What values did you exhibit? Did you check in with God, or did you just figure millions of people can't be wrong?
We'll never just stumble onto the path that leads to life. We won't get swept up with the crowd and taken there. But if we aim and ask for guidance, we'll follow the narrow road and enter through the right gate that leads to life.
“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.
These verses are from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. He's talking about the intentional aspect our faith should have. We shouldn't just be Christians because everyone else is a Christian. If we just follow the crowd, we get what the crowd gets, and that's not always the right thing. You've probably heard the old saying "None of us is as dumb as all of us." The crowd will take you to mediocrity and sometimes even to your death.
The wide road is permissive and forgiving. You can weave all around on it and still be on the path. You don't feel lost because there are so many other people all traveling to where you are traveling. It's easy to tell the right road, because everyone is on it. Except that's the road to Hell.
The narrow road requires you to pay attention. If you weave around on the narrow road, you could end up in the ditch. You also have less reassurance that you're on the right path. How do you feel when you're going somewhere and the GPS sends you down some random one-lane road? Pretty lost, right? Until you get to where you were going and realize it was the right path all along. The narrow road sometimes requires you to listen to that outside guidance in order to find your way.
Many enter through the wide gate. It's easy to spot because everyone seems to be going there. How many of those people are just following the crowd, though? People follow fashions like schools of fish or flocks of birds. They can change direction suddenly, and the ones in the back don't necessarily know where the ones way up front are going. Have you ever been in a line so big that you couldn't tell if it was even the right line? That's society.
You sort of have to look around for the small gate though. It's like the side door. You have to be awake and following directions. There's nobody shoving from behind you to make you go faster to get there. Not many people get to that door.
When you make decisions, which strategy do you use? Do you just follow the crowd, do the easiest thing, and follow the safest-looking path of least resistance? Or do you move with intention, trying to follow the path God has set out for us?
Think about your day today. Which of the things you did and the decisions you made were purposeful, and which were just the default? How did you eat? How did you react to things? What values did you exhibit? Did you check in with God, or did you just figure millions of people can't be wrong?
We'll never just stumble onto the path that leads to life. We won't get swept up with the crowd and taken there. But if we aim and ask for guidance, we'll follow the narrow road and enter through the right gate that leads to life.
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