¹³ “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. ¹⁴ But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

Matthew 7:13-14

Dear God, these two verses have been lingering in my head for a couple of years now. I did a couple of Sunday school lessons on the Sermon on the Mount a couple of years ago, and there were two things that really struck me beyond the basic content in Matthew 5 and 6. First, the summary of the whole thing in Matthew 7:12: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” And then these two verses. The gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

I’ve been trying to point some special people in my life to the road for a while now, and it frustrates me that they seemingly choose not to find it. I really wish they would look. I wish they would take me up on the challenge to find it. But I guess they have to be more motivated by pain before they will find it. What’s the quote? Something like, “Change only happens when remaining the same is more painful than the pain of changing.” I never learn or grow in easy times. It always takes struggle for me to move beyond my comfort zone and into a new place. You don’t cause the pain, but I pray that you will make it count.

Father, I’m going to be going over verses 13 and 14 tonight for a men’s Bible study I’m involved with. Help me to guide them. Help them to teach me in the process as well. Help us all to understand better what it looks like to find the narrow gateway and walk through it thoughtfully, intentionally, and determinedly.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen