THE GATES
DECEMBER 6, 2024
TEXT:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
Jesus Christ, in the given text, was simply trying to point out the peculiarities associated with kingdom demands. Jesus painted His illustration by making reference to two gates: the narrow gate and the wide gate. In Jesus’ illustration, the wide gate seems to hold much captivation, attractiveness, and promise. However, everything is mere deception, and the end result is maximum destruction. On the other hand, the narrow gate looks discouraging and unappealing, but it is the door to eternal life.
What Jesus was trying to say here is that something as profitable as the kingdom of God is quite demanding and requires serious hard work on our part. It’s not something that comes easily, and it’s not a pleasant journey. In this journey towards the kingdom, God has not promised us pleasure and fun. Rather, He has given us the assurance that even when trials and tribulations come, He is there for us, thus we should cheer up (John 16:33).
Jesus also meant to say that the road that leads to damnation is quite pleasant, and many are caught daily in the trap and snare of this seemingly captivating but destructive pathway. It is true indeed that the sweetest things often cause the most terrible deaths.
To go in through the narrow gate requires a lot of discipline, perseverance, and dedication on our part as believers. It involves us taking up our cross daily and bearing it after Christ, like a faithful soldier on the battlefield. The wide road, on the other hand, embodies commitment and loyalty to worldly tenets and living in line with the principles of the people of the world.
Jesus emphasized the eventual outcome of going through the wide gate, which includes perdition, destruction, and total separation from God. Going in through the strait and narrow gate, however, is a pathway to eternal life in Christ Jesus.
SEARCHLIGHT: The beautiful thing is that the power of choice, as it pertains to the two gates above, actually lies in our hands. God has given us the power of life and death; why not choose life today!
PRAYER: Every decision that will lead me to the path of damnation, may I not take it, in the name of Jesus.
BIBLE READING: Genesis 19-21, Luke 21
PST. MICHAEL OMOLE
