Narrow is the Way

“Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life” (Matthew 7:14). The road of salvation is a difficult path. It takes a determination of our will to not stumble off the path.

Setting the direction for our lives is the first step in the process of the Christian life. The second step is the ongoing process of walking along that straight and narrow path. “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Following Jesus requires us to put our own thoughts and desires aside, embrace the hardships of a life of discipleship and boldly walk forward towards maturity in Christ.

Sin begins as a temporary deviation from your values.

We don’t often fall for temptations to act completely contrary to our normal behaviors. However, we may fall for slight encroachments upon our morals. While we wouldn’t tell a bold-face outright lie, we may give in to the temptation to tell a small lie that doesn’t directly hurt anyone but misconstrues the truth. As we become comfortable with the small lies, we gradually settle for bigger and bigger lies. We then open our eyes to find ourselves in a place we never would have gone to a few years ago.

Temporary seldom remains temporary.

Our lives are not a set of unconnected events. We live a connected life where everything that we do and everything that happens to us affects who we are. What we allow as an exception quickly becomes what we allow as a rule. This can work both ways. When we choose to memorize scripture, we wake up one day assuming that we have always known that verse. There was a time when we didn’t know that verse, but over time, the verse we temporarily began memorizing became a permanent part of our way of thinking. Our temporary decisions lead to permanent outcomes.

When you fear no truths you will have nothing to fear from lies.

When we know the truth, we don’t have to worry about looking for lies. The more we know the truth, the more apparent lies will be to us. Bankers spot fraudulent money because they study and know what true money looks like, and see it over and over again. The more we study the truth, the more we are able to spot the lies. We don’t need to study the lies, we need to study the truth.