Arbitratus

In Matthew 7:13, 14, we hear words we are familiar with. "Enter through the narrow gate.For wide is the gate and broad the road 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."

Now, perhaps it was because I heard it so many times that it had lost whatever significance it ought to have had on me. But it was only this morning, while listening to music in church that i finally noticed what it meant. Strangely enough, the song was 'Narrow Way to Heaven', done by the Apologetix, a spoof of 'Stairway to Heaven' done by Led Zeppelin or some other rock band. And then it dawned on me.

In this world, it's so easy to follow our own desires. To do what will give us the maximum amount of pleasure in the least amount of expenditure of effort. To do what 'We' want, not what others want, not even what God wants. And that is why the path to destruction is so broad. It's easy to just follow along, happily living the temporal, only to find that at the end of a series of false 'highs' you find not the 'high of all highs', just hell. It's so hard to live a life for Christ. It seems that we don't have any 'fun', are so strict on ourselves, are so 'priggish and pious' in our religion, but that's what we are called to do; to follow the standards that Christ has set. And it's definitely not a walk in the park, what with us being bombarded with 'independence and individuality'. Hence the narrow way.

That is when we have to make the choice.

The other thing about the verse that struck me is that it said, "...broad is the road to destruction, and MANY enter through it." It said MANY people are going down that path to self-destruction, where they will be destroyed. And what are we doing about it?! That verse is also a challenge to get off our bums and start earning our keep in the kingdom of heaven.

Let's lock and load.

Cheerio