Jesus said, “Go in
through the narrow gate, because the path leading to destruction is a broad one
and has a wide gate, and there are many who go through it.”
—
Matthew 7:13 (USC)
Commonality of purpose aligns us more than we imagine. Our human purpose
is of sophistry when God’s purpose is goodness in everything we do. Our purpose
aligns with our default and we act in all manner of idolatry, or our purpose is
conformed to God by the transformation of the Spirit.
The latter has gone
the narrow gate; few go that way.
The disciple’s
journey is that of the narrow way. They cannot and will not displease their
Lord. They understand that a willing obedience, without thought, is the best
obedience. They mortify their will so as to succour God’s will through the Holy
Spirit.
Is there a plainer
way of saying this?
Because their life
is no longer their own, because they have taken up their cross, the disciple is
ready to bear their own passion. Their passion is their own God-appointed and
God-anointed suffering. Suffering and passion are synonymous. Because they no
longer think in terms of themselves as islands; they are individuals for God.
They are beyond external peer pressures; or they need be.
As verse 13 follows
the magnum opus of the Sermon in verse 12 — treat others as you would wish them
to treat you — there is the imputation of a Kingdom mindset.
Most people do not
treat others as they would wish to be treated. Just the same, most people —
yes, even most Christians — do not enter through the narrow gate to journey in
the narrow way. Some do, most don’t. Life must take us to a place where we are
ready to give up our lives in order to save them.
It is rare that life
does this. Rarer still is it that a person responds truly in bearing their
cross. Still much rarer, again, is it that a person would mortify their flesh
without the purging providence of God initiating such a passion.
***
Blessed are those
who enter the narrow gate to go the narrow way, for they will embark on their
passion as Jesus did. Conviction of heart will see them through their
suffering.
Those who enter the
narrow gate do so because they are convinced by the Spirit. They are blessed,
for their faith comes from the urgency of obedience.
***
The narrow gate leads to the narrow way,
It’s the only way through God we stay,
So choose the hard way; the wisdom of grief,
And God in his grace
will give you sure relief.
***
QUESTIONS in REVIEW:
1. There are times in all our lives
when we have resisted entering the narrow gate. Recall one of these times. What
were the consequences of missing God’s mark?
2. What is the experience of
entering into the narrow path? How are we ‘blessed’?
© 2015 S. J. Wickham.
Note: USC version is Under the Southern Cross, The New Testament in Australian English
(2014). This translation was painstakingly developed by Dr Richard Moore, a NT
Greek scholar, over nearly thirty years.
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