3 The Two Gates
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.
Matthew 7: 13, 14 [NIV]
These two short verses require us to make a decision. Jesus sums up the most important choice that any of us will take.
Will you take the small gate? This gate opens onto the narrow road which leads to life, but few people find it. Or will you go with crowd and take the wide gate? This opens onto a broad road, but ends in destruction.
If only there were more than two gates! We might wish for a comfortable middle way which is not as demanding as the narrow way, but does not lead to destruction. But Jesus does not offer us that. As in much of his teaching, he forces us to make a decision.
To enter by the small gate is hard. It is a new beginning, and we need to leave outside all that might encumber us from our old life: materialism, selfishness, wrong relationships and much more. To walk the narrow road is not easy, but it is the only road that will lead us to eternal life.
'Jesus the Lord confronts us all with an Either-Or; we must either commit the whole of our life to him or repudiate him passionately and completely.' [J S Whale, 1896 - 1997]
Lord Jesus, thank you for the promise that you are with us for ever. Help me to walk the narrow road. May I not be distracted, wander from the path or turn back. Thank you for the promise of abundant life at the end. Amen.
David Long
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