The Narrow Gate

“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.” (Matt. 7:13-14)

Imagine your life journey as a series of gates, each getting more and more narrow. As you journey along the broad road that leads to the B-, C-, or even D life, Jesus steps into your life and says, “My child, this is not the path to true Life. Follow me through this narrow gate over here, into my Kingdom, and together we will find my Life to the full.”

Jesus stepped into my life like this in June of 1995. I was careening down the broad road of success, and popularity, money, and all that. I was blind as a bat to the upcoming cliff. Jesus stepped in and showed me the gate to the narrow path.

That was twenty-nine years ago, and in the ensuing years he has stepped in many more times to redirect my path back off that broad road. I keep drifting back! And you?

But each time it seems the gate gets a little narrower. Perhaps it is a bad habit or a hard-heart issue I have been carrying for a while. I won’t forgive someone, or I will not forget! Whatever it is, it is always related to my … Self.

At The Gate

Here is how it plays out. The Holy Spirit prompts me that a certain behavior is no longer acceptable, that is, if I want to go deeper into the richness of the Kingdom. I find myself standing before a gate and I hear the Holy Spirit say, “Now Sam, if you want to go deeper into the “love-joy-peace-patience” of my Kingdom, it is time to drop this particular thing.”

I immediately know he is right. There is no confusion about that. But here the conflict begins. He is right. I know it. And I want to go deeper; I have already tasted the joy and I want more. But … I am not sure I can. This habit, this heart issue, has been with me for a long time.

I cry out to Jesus, “I want to, but I cannot. Don’t you see? This is a part of me. It is who I am. I would change it, and I would drop it, if only I could.”

Jesus smiles his warm, loving smile, just as he did with the Rich Young Ruler, and says, “Okay. You hang back. You’re still saved. You’re still mine. I still love you. But you cannot go any deeper as long as you carry this.”

I then settle back into what is now an obvious C- life. But after a while, I come back up to the gate and I say, “Jesus, I cannot do this on my own. In fact, I am not even sure I can do this at all. But one thing I know for certain: I cannot stand to stay back here behind this gate. I want to go deeper!”

Jesus then spreads his arms out wide, smiles and says, “Of course you cannot do this on your own. That is why I am here at the gate with you. Come, follow me. Drop that baggage and together we will walk through this next gate, away from the broad road, and into the next, deeper, richer phase of your journey with me.”

Do you know what I experience immediately upon dropping whatever was holding me back? Freedom! Yes, the almost unimaginable relief of finally being free from that thing that I was holding onto, or was allowing to hold onto me, and therefore holding me back.

Now it is time for you to stop reading this and acknowledge the gate Jesus has placed before you. You know it. There is no confusion about that. Your only confusion is the conflict with which you are now wrestling, perhaps saying the same things to Jesus I said earlier.

Jesus is saying to you, now, as you read this: “Dear child, there is more. You know it. Come through this gate with me and find it.”

Because … “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” (John 10:9)