The Broad Road and The Narrow Road

The Broad Road and The Narrow Road 

How do you picture it?

 

MATT 7.13-14

 

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

 

There are numerous ways to depict the actual description of the Broad and Narrow Road. Here is just a scraping from the web. Everyone has an idea.

 

Do you see it as a Road Sign giving you ample warning of what’s ahead so you can make your decision ahead of time? Kind of like a beckoning to turn “here”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or maybe you can see it as a Road Post smack in the middle of your journey. The sign is just an option.

 

 

 

Perhaps you can visualize a warning to depart the path you are currently on and simply take the detour on a less trodden pathway. Maybe it’s just a hint against doing what everyone else is doing. (But why would someone respond to being alone?)

This particular offer to depart the popular way of life to one that is secluded is no real enticement toward entering the narrow gate and walking the narrow road at all.

 

 

There’s also the scary warning that makes you feel stupid if you follow the crowd to certain destruction. Who wouldn’t one pick the path that leads to the celestial city instead of the road that leads to hell’s fire. Duh, right?

 

Except, the many on the broad road don’t see it coming.

 

Some may see the Narrow Road as not a life we live today, but rather a parting of the ways on that day we “crossover” the great chasm of death.

 

Let me offer a different option of how to experience the Narrow Road journey. There are and have been billions of men and women moving within culture find it to be the easiest direction. The many are comfortable and have a home on the Broad Road, some are pressured to follow the Broad Road and to remain steady on it. There is both the Positive Approach to herd the masses and the Negative Approach to keep the masses in line. One looks around and sees there neighbor doing okay, so, it'll be okay for me, too.

 

Most of the world simply cannot be herded away from the path they are on already. Afterall, they are born on the Broad Road and have the innate proclivity to remain on it. They need only a little positive nudge here and there to keep them tracking with “the many”. A few might need a small gentle “Negative nudge” but soon will comply. And of course, there are those who are deeply coerced and go along the way “standing up on the inside but sitting down on the outside”. Even still, those who resist the Broad Road proclivities are only resisting within the framework of the Broad Road. They may think they are independent, but the Broad Road is broad enough to accommodate their obstinance and includes multiple levels of defiance.  

Yet for a few, from the shadow of their despair, a clarity of heart and mind taps them on the shoulder. They hear a whisper from within their void, 

 

“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” 

Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”

 

Then from a center place of the Broad Road, they turn around, enter the Narrow Gate, and walk the road of the narrow path to life. They are struck with the Word of Truth:

 

“Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light” Eph 5.7

 

And from right where one is, smack-dab in the middle of the Broad Road to Destruction, they execute an “about-face” – they enter the narrow gate, and from then on, they walk the Narrow Road that leads to life. The Narrow Gate is a repentance granted by a marvelous work outside of oneself that rescues one from destruction. From death to life. It is the entrance into the narrow gate. The Narrow Gate is Christ the Savior. This is regeneration.

 

Jesus said, "I AM the Door" - John 10:7,9.

Jesus said, "I AM the Way the Truth and The Life" - John 14:6

 

Once they begin their journey on the Narrow Road, they discover it is not a simple detour toward solitude and blissful solace. It is putting on an entire new world view and the old self and a defection from the sirens of the flesh and all its’ lusts, to include the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. It is a “provoking” from deep within from where nothing deeper may start. It is a touch by the finger of God the Holy Spirit. It is a desire to love not the world nor the things in it. It is being born again. It is a new desire for righteousness never known before. One turns dead in their tracks from the gratuitous tailwind of the world and then to face it as a headwind of torrential opposition. 

 

There are times on this journey that the new Christian may be tempted to walk again on the Broad Road. Once one has entered through the Narrow Gate, there is no option for them to walk the Broad Road. 

 

The Narrow Road is not a secluded pathway that leads away a from the Broad Road. The Narrow Road is direct, head long plunge into the Broad Road traffic. There is no other Narrow Road and there is no way around the opposing traffic.

We need not fear the collisions with the opposite traffic on the narrow road; nor, should we fear stumbling along the journey. Jesus said, "I AM the Good Shepherd" - John 10:11,14. He will shepherd His sheep. The pasture on which His sheep dwell is the Narrow Road and not one will He lose.

 

Jesus said “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. “I and the Father are one.” John 10.29-30.

 

We shall not fear the dark trills and silence of the deepest nights for Jesus said, "I AM the Light of the world" - John 8:12;9:5; 12:46; Luke 2:32.

We shall not suffer loneliness, for our Shepherd has told us that He will be with us always, even to end of the age. (Matt 28.20)

 

We shall not fear death during our journey for Jesus said, "I AM the Resurrection and the Life" - John 11:25.

 

And we as His sheep know that staying alive in the body is not all there is to living. Our life with Him is an eternal life granted at the narrow gate.

 

We need not fear shame, ridicule and suffering for His name’s sake while journeying in the opposite direction to that of the world.

 

1Pet 4.12-14

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;

13but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.

14If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”

 

Philip 1.27-29

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,”

 

2 Tim 1.8-12

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. For this reason, I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

Be strong and in the power of His might. One day we shall exit this Narrow Road and be before the throne of the One Who carried us through…