March 9

The Narrow Gate

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  Matthew 7:13

Sooner or later in our walk as God’s men we encounter what Jesus calls the narrow gate, or narrow path. It’s that incident or situation in life where we have to make a choice: stay the course of obedience in the midst of a trial, or take the easy way out ( i.e., deny, medicate, or otherwise avoid the crisis at hand). For many choices in life, only God and you ever know whether you were obedient to what He called you to do. At other times, however, the circumstances of the choice are “out there” for all the world to see—how we respond to a negative diagnosis, a wayward spouse, the sudden death of a loved one.

The narrow gate swings both ways—we choose whether to lift the latch and walk through it, or we can also choose to turn around, re-open the gate, and walk away. Or, we can avoid the narrow path altogether. When we walk the narrow path, it:

• pinches and hurts—because it’s narrow;
• requires sacrifice and “death to self”;
• may require giving up on some dreams we thought were important.

Here’s what also happens: The fires of adversity heat us up to a spiritual temperature at which we become malleable. Like a glob of glass at the end of a glassblower’s rod, the Holy Spirit can now breathe into us and form us into His desired shape. No heat = no transformation.

The narrow gate is a two-way gate because God gives us free will. As God’s man, we need to stay on guard. Jesus warned: “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:14). Be one of the few. Once you lift the latch to the small gate and start down the path of the narrow road, lean on the Holy Spirit as your Navigator; find traveling companions who will walk with you; use the guardrails of prayer and His Word to keep you on the true path.

Father, lead me down the narrow path, and may I never look back again. Help me stay the course.