God’s people are like sheep, but we are not dumb sheep. We are smart sheep who are called to be bold and do things differently than the world. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and all wisdom is hidden in Christ. Everyone is going to follow someone, but as Christians, we are going to follow Jesus Christ.
There are two paths that everyone can walk along in their lives: the broad road that leads to destruction, or the narrow road that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14). All of us must make a choice and decide what path we are going to walk down.
The broad road that leads to destruction is very well traveled. Everyone in the world is automatically on this pathway, and all Christians were also once on this path.
The wide gate that leads to this road is easy to find. Many people enter here. It’s easy to enter this gate, and it doesn’t take much thought. This is the road people just get on as they live seemingly normal lives. There are many ways to go through the gate to this road, for there are many ways to sin and many lies to believe.
A road is a place where people walk or travel, and it represents the way a person lives. The broad road is the course of this world that is energized by evil spirits (Ephesians 2:1-2). It doesn’t take a lot of critical thinking to end up on this road, because almost everyone around us is already on this road. They are just coasting along.
This broad road has a theme song:
“Row, row, row you boat
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream”
It seems right to go down this road; it’s easy and appears relaxing. One doesn’t need to work too hard or think too much about it. Society and culture expect us to walk along this road, and it’s easy to just coast along.
Proverbs says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (Proverbs 14:12).
This broad road, so easy to find and travel down, leads to destruction. This road is not according to God; it’s according to Satan. God doesn’t want people to walk down this road. He wants us to live differently. He doesn’t want us to be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2). The world is like a heavy mold that is pressing down upon each person, trying to conform us into its own image. We must reject this molding process. This takes energy; otherwise, we will be squashed and shaped by the world.
The broad road leads to destruction. The end of this road is a big cliff that falls off suddenly into the lake of fire. This destruction can also come upon people in this life. The world lies to us and assures us that the broad road is not only easy to travel along but that it leads to peace and joy. But sin always leads to trouble, and without God, we will face problems.
People on the broad road seem like they’re accomplishing something important. Satan has given a job to everyone in the world; he rewards them for doing it. Just like God has a building project in the earth, so Satan is building something. God is building his house, which is the church, so that he can flood the earth with his glory. Satan is trying to build up the world system and create an image of the beast, the mark of the beast, and enslave the world under the control of the Antichrist. This is not doom and gloom; this is future reality that Jesus warned us about. Sadly, most people in the world are inside Babylon, building up another tower of Babel for the end times. We should not expend our time and energy on this Satanic project. God is looking for people who will expend their lives building up his house so his kingdom can be manifested and take over the world. This will only happen through spiritual power.
The narrow gate and narrow road lead to life, and only a few people find it. This “few” is the remnant of God. They will be faithful to follow Jesus. This narrow gate must be found; it’s not obvious. The wide gate is easy to find because almost everyone is already on it, and almost everyone will tell people how to get on this road and how to travel along it. The narrow gate, on the other hand, must be found, and that takes curiosity, willing to think differently, and a willingness to do unpopular things.
Jesus is the door (John 10:7). He said that if we enter through him, we will find pasture. To go through this narrow gate, we must repent. We have to give up our sins and stop living for ourselves. We must abandon wrong beliefs, plans, and desires in order to walk on this narrow path. We may have to give up some friendships because some people will drag us away to the wide road. We may have to get rid of some hobbies that don’t please God.
Jesus is the road (John 14:6). He is the word, and the narrow road is defined by the word of God. To the extent that we submit to God’s word, to that extent, we will travel along this road. This road is narrow because there is only one way to get to God, and that’s through Jesus Christ, his Son. There are many ways to get to hell, but only one way to heaven.
The options on the narrow road may seem less than the multitude of options on the broad road. As we travel on with God, this road may even seem to get narrower. Some things that seemed okay for us when we were spiritual babies are not okay anymore. Maybe we used to make some compromises that the Lord seemed to tolerate, but He doesn’t tolerate them anymore. We may have been ignorant of certain things in the past, and so we engaged in things that we shouldn’t have. But now we know better, so we have to say NO. For example, when we were younger in the Lord, we may have thought that some man-made religious traditions are okay, but as we mature, we now know that these things are demonic. Now that we know the truth, we have an obligation to walk in the freedom that the truth brings and not go back into bondage.
The narrow road leads to life. LIFE is a glorious destination. We have eternal life through the blood of Christ, but we also have abundant life now through Jesus Christ (John 10:10). This road will come to an end when we reach our glorious destination in heaven. But the destination is more specific. For individual Christians, this destination means full maturity in Christ. For the church, this destination means becoming the bride of Christ. Until these goals are attained, we must travel farther along this road.
Sadly, many Christians believe that they are walking along the narrow path, but they don’t really know Jesus. They think they know him and are on his pathway, but in reality, they don’t know him at all (Luke 13:23-27). They think they are following the Bible, but instead, they are following a man-made religion that abuses Jesus’ name.
Now things are not very clear sometimes. It may appear that there is not much of a difference between the broad road and the narrow road. But as we get closer to the end of the age, the difference between these two roads will become increasingly obvious. Eventually, the narrow path will become clearly right, and the broad path will become clearly wrong. But when everything is that clear, it will be too late to go from the broad path to the narrow path, and all who are on the broad path will be destroyed.
Let us not be seduced by the allure of the broad path. Even though it’s what almost everyone is doing and this way of living seems normal now, it is not according to God. Almost all the advice around us is how to progress along the broad path of the world. Success in the world is measured by how far along the broad path one has gone. But popularity doesn’t make this error right.
“Love not the world, neither the things in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).
Let’s exhort each other daily and stay on the narrow path of God. Don’t be tricked and dragged to the broad path of the world. If any of us are on the broad path in any way, may God show that to us and deliver us. We need to be humble and open to change. The time to prepare is now. We need to stay on the narrow path now while there is still opportunity, for the time is coming when the door to this path will be shut.
by Peter
Lincoln House Churches 