"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those how enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few." (Matt 7:13-14). This has been a challenging directive for centuries. Does it mean always take the hard road, "the road less traveled"? Does it mean deprive yourself of the pleasures and liberties that everyone else seems to be enjoying? Does it mean be miserable? The Puritans and others who took these verses to the extreme, it seems to me did not find the LIFE that Jesus promised.
The life that can be ours comes from following JESUS, "the Way, the Truth, the Life." (Jn 14:6).
Jesus also said, "I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in an got out an find pasture." (cf. Jn 10:9). Our desire to follow Jesus through the narrow gate, to love him with our whole heart and soul, automatically restricts our choices, our actions, but fills us with a love, joy, and peace that are life-giving, and by far outweigh the value of what we have excluded from our lives.
One small example might be acting on the familiar saying, "it is better to give than to receive." When you give away something you treasure, something you thought you could never part with, there comes an inner satisfaction that you have given part of yourself as a sign of the deep love you have for the one who receives the gift. There is a sense of freedom...I am no longer "possessed by my things" and I have made someone else happy with them. Wow! Try it...you'll like it. The narrow gate will not seem like a bad option at all, but the preferred option!
Bro. Rene
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