April 27 - Matthew 7:13-14

April 27 - Matthew 7:13-14

“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.”

I really believe that while we attempt to understand this when we are younger, it becomes easier with age.  When I was in high school, college and my early twenties, it seemed as if everything was available to me and nothing could go wrong.  My focus wasn't terribly tight and everything interested me.

Year by year, with learning from losses and successes, I began to understand how narrowing my focus enabled me to learn something well.

I still have a desire to do a multitude of things; that will never change. I still strain against limitations that are placed on me and push past them as often as possible in order to try new things, but I think I am beginning to understand what it was Jesus spoke of in these verses.

The narrow gate isn't at the end of the easy road. When I began avoiding prior mistakes because of what I’d learned, or focused my attention on something because of a success; or when I began to recognize the power of loss and struggle and the satisfaction that comes from overcoming those things, little by little, I approached the narrow road with more understanding. A lifetime of learning helps you comprehend the importance of the narrow road, even if you veer off just as often.

Jesus asks us to focus on Him. It won’t be the easy road or even the popular path, but in the end; all that you have learned and all that you have overcome will be worth it.  That gate will open and there he will be … waiting.