Straight and Narrow part 1
"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:14). I like this verse, but I think it's kind of tragically misunderstood. I think some people have taken this mean, "You have to walk the straight and narrow path--follow the Law of Moses--in order to get into heaven when you die." But... that's not what Jesus said. He said straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to LIFE. He wasn't talking about what happens when (if) you die. He was talking about LIFE. Abundant life. Eternal life. Everlasting life. Resurrection Life. And let's be clear, Jesus wasn't giving us a formula. He wasn't putting a yoke on us. He was doing what He always did--He was talking about Himself and the cross. He IS the gate (or door) to the sheepfold, and He IS the narrow way. This idea we have where we have to fit into a strict and religious box of do's and don't's... even if we COULD do that (which we can't) it wouldn't make us alive. I'm convinced that's there's a huge difference between "living" and being ALIVE. When God breathed life into Adam's nostrils he was a living soul. But that was the problem. He was living, but he was living in the soul realm. The earth realm. He thought--and, as always, when I talk about "Adam" I'm generally refering to "Adam and Eve"--if I get enough knoweldge of good and evil I can walk the straight and narrow. I can live this life through my human effort. I can earn my bread by the sweat of my brow. But, again, that's impossible. And it's not what God ever wanted for us. God wanted (and wants) us to have a relationship to Him. To live BY the Father. To live WITH the Father. To live OUT OF the Father. It's not laws you keep, it's a life that keeps you. It's not what you do "for" Jesus. It's what Jesus did for you and as you, and what Jesus is doing IN you. So why are there few that find it? Because most of us are sinners and are on the highway to hell? Or because most of us--especially the "religious folk"--are trying so hard to earn something that can't be earned that we miss out on the gift that was freely given? Look at Isaiah 40:4, "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." This is what happened on the cross. On the cross Jesus made that straight and narrow way available. He got all the bumps out of the road, if I can say it that way. The ground at the cross is level. It's smooth. It's equal footing for everybody. That's where our confidence--and our ability--to walk this Walk of Faith comes from. It comes from Jesus walking the walk with our feet. It comes from Jesus talking the talk with our mouth. It comes from us living His life by letting HIM live His own life in and through and as us. It doesn't come from works and labor. It comes from rest. It doesn't come from us doing the work. It comes from the finished work.