The Narrow Way

Thursday night, Jacob (my 7 year old son) and I were driving home from his baseball practice and we saw a police car. He then told me a story about a cartoon or a T.V. show he saw a few days before and how a character on the show was running from the cops! As a dad, a few red flags went up about what this show might be teaching my kids. Then I said, “Jacob, you know it’s never good to run from the cops, right?” He chuckled and said, with exaggeration, “yes.” I asked, “What happens if you run from the cops?” I loved the way he answered. He said, “it’s never good, you either go to jail or you die!”

Lesson: There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 16:25, ESV)

For the past few months I have been preaching a message series called, The Lifestyle of a Disciple, from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Sunday, the message was from Matthew 7:13-14. This is where Jesus is teaching in regard to the Pharisees,

"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (ESV)

What Jesus is saying, is essentially the same message Solomon wrote in Proverbs. The Pharisees were not in opposition to religion. In fact, they were some of the most religious people of the day. They loved their religion and believed they were on the right path. However, they were on the wide, six-lane religious freeway, on cruise control. But when they were warned to slow down and exit their “old ways” of worship, they stepped on the accelerator and ran! They fled from the Truth, disregarded the signs and missed the turn. The Pharisees stayed on the road that led to their demise and ultimately their death.

Jesus’ message in Matthew 7:13-14 was……"there is a way that seems right." It is a religious way, but it’s not the right way. It is a good way, but it is not God’s way. The road of religion is a broad and easy road to travel. It is a “wide gate” that will lead to your death.

Today, ask yourself these questions: What road am I on? Am I going the right “way?”

Jesus said in John 14:6: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Lesson: Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven

Trust in Him today!

(To find out how you can begin a relationship with Christ today, please read my blog posting, "Seven Signs that Lead to Life in Christ")