Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it. Matthew 7:13-14 CSB
For family vacations, we often went to the mountains because my dad did not care for the beach. When we studied the Alamo in my 5th-grade history class, I asked if we could go to San Antonio that year on vacation. My parents agreed. My dad was excited because, on our way, there was a large dairy farm.
Why would that excite my dad? Well, he had a dairy farm and he thought he might go and scout out some cattle to buy. So, he said, when we got to Texas, we would just take this one small detour into the town of Palestine, and he would check these cows out and then we would be Alamo bound from there.
There was one problem when we made that detour. We got lost. There was no Siri or GPS back in those days. My dad spotted an 18-wheeler pulling a large cattle trailer. He decided to follow it. We wound up at a livestock auction and from there were able to get directions to this dairy.
We were lost, but we followed someone who was not lost and with some help from others who were not lost, we were able to find our way.
As Christians, we want to be on that narrow treacherous road that gets us through that narrow gate. Picture these two roads, one is a four-lane highway that is paved smooth, flat, and straight. The other road is bumpy, windy, muddy, and full of potholes. Naturally, we would prefer to take the wide, smooth road, right?
Many people are traveling down this wide, smooth road. They are in their nice cars, and they seem to have it all together. The problem is they are lost, and they don’t know they are lost. They are traveling in the wrong direction. Many won’t even understand that they have been lost all this time until they die and wind up in hell.
They were going the wrong way and never even knew it. What’s worst is those who attend church regularly but are also lost. These are those who present themselves as good, church-going people but cling to sin like it’s some sort of lifeline. Hebrews 10:26 says if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.
The saddest thing I am seeing today is that so many people are following other people who are lost. There are pastors in the pulpit that are as lost as a ball in high weeds as my pastor would say. Droves of people are following false preachers and false teachers who spout out false doctrine.
Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.” He is the only way. If you are following anything other than Him, my friend, you are lost.
The reason so many people follow false teachings is it’s easy. It’s a really, nice, paved road. You can do what you want to and it’s all okay. You can be whoever you want to be. My friend, this is not true. We must be who God called us to be. We must follow Him.
He assured us that we will suffer persecution and have trouble here on earth. It’s not this beautifully paved road, it’s the muddy, bumpy road. Jesus said in Luke 9:23 “If anyone wants to follow Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”
Self-denial is part of the plan. We can’t say and do everything we feel. We have to pay the toll of self-denial to walk down this narrow rough road.
My dad got us where we needed to go because he chose to follow someone who was not lost. My dad eventually came to Christ because he followed my mom who was traveling that narrow road.
If you want to get to heaven, follow someone who is not lost. They are easy to spot because they stand out. They are the ones full of peace and joy as they travel this narrow, bumpy, muddy road.
Follow them.
Have a great day!