Matthew 7:13-14 NASB 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. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
There is a skill that has been largely lost in these days of internet everywhere, smart phones, GPS, and satellite communications—it is reading a map. And not just reading, but plotting the course for every road trip, anticipating every turn, and scheduling places to stop. Life can be a lot like one of those cross-country road trips. Just when you think you have everything planned: there is construction, a detour, an unexpected accident, or someone needs an unscheduled bio break.
Jesus had something to say about choosing the road for life’s journey. In Matthew 7, he referred to it as choosing between the wide way or the narrow way. He said the wide way leads to destruction, and the narrow way leads to life. It seems like an easy choice, right? But then He says something unexpected—the narrow way is hard to find. Doesn’t it seem that God would want it to be easy? After all, didn’t Jesus come to remove the sin barriers to finding and living out God’s way?
The requirement to finding the narrow way is complete surrender, laying down our own desires and thoughts to trust God completely. “Then Jesus said, If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24). Hundreds of years before this, Solomon told us, “Do not lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways trust in Him, and He will show you which path to take” (Proverbs 3:5–6). The reason we are often unable to see God’s path in our lives is that we are holding on to our own ideas of what should or should not be done. Romans 12:1-2 tells us to give our lives as a living sacrifice...THEN we will know the good and perfect will of God. Only when we choose to abandon our own wisdom, our limited view of who God is, and pursue an unrestricted relationship with the Father will we find the narrow way and Him.
In John 14:5-6, Jesus emphatically states, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus did not state that he is A way, but THE way. Jesus paid the price for us to have full and complete access to God the Father. God is after an inmate relationship with us and everything we go through is purposed to draw us closer to Him. This includes the narrow way which is hard to find and must be sought deliberately.
We love to sing and quote the first portion of Revelation 12:11, “And they overcame him (Satan) because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony." But the verse continues with the final ingredient to this victory, “and they did not love their life even unto death.” That death is surrender. We will find the narrow way, what Isaiah 35:8 calls the “highway of holiness," when we completely lay down our life to the lover of our soul.
Sounds foolish until you know God’s promises to lead and direct us. Isaiah 30:21, “Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you, a voice will say, This is the way you should go.” Or Psalm 32:8, “I will lead you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will guide you with My eye upon you.” Or Isaiah 48:17, “I am He who leads you in the way you should go.” Hundreds of times in scripture, God promises to lead and direct us if we will only trust and surrender to find the road less traveled.
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Gary and Sandy Anthony
Matthew 16:24-26 NASB Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul?
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NASB Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor; for if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up!
Psalms 32:8-9 TPT I hear the Lord saying, I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life. I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with my eyes as your guide. So don’t make it difficult; don’t be stubborn when I take you where you’ve not been before. Don’t make me tug you and pull you along. Just come with me!
Matthew 22:2-14 NASB The kingdom of heaven is like a king who held a wedding feast for his son. And he sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, Tell those who have been invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened cattle are all butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast! But they paid no attention and went their separate ways, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and treated them abusively, and then killed them. Now the king was angry, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. Then he said to his slaves, The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. So go to the main roads, and invite whomever you find there to the wedding feast. Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes? And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, tie his hands and feet, and throw him into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.
Luke 13:24-30 NASB Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin standing outside and knocking on the door, saying, Lord, open up to us! and He then will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from. Then you will begin saying, We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets! And yet He will say, I do not know where you are from; leave Me, all you evildoers. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. And they will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.
Isaiah 35:8-9 TPT There will be a highway of holiness called the Sacred Way. The impure will not be permitted on this road, but it will be accessible to God’s people. And not even fools will lose their way. The lion will not be found there; no wild beast will travel on it— they will not be found there. But the redeemed will find a pathway on it.
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