Two paths, a crossroads, and a lifetime of decisions.

"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." - Matthew 7:13-14

This verse is understood to be the climactic point in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. It distinguishes between two paths, Life and Death, Good and Evil, Narrow and Wide, Hard and Easy. The Lord urges us to follow His righteous path but as many of us Christians know it can be difficult at times. I'd like to get into why that is but first lets look at the root cause of our hardships.

John MacArthur wrote in a Sermon (Which Way to Heaven?) about this very verse that "someone has well said that all of life concentrates on man at the crossroads. That's really true. From the time of our life when we are old enough to make an independent decision or any decision, life becomes a matter of constant decision making. Every single day of our lives we make decisions, about everything. We decide what time we'll get up or if we'll get up in the morning. What we'll eat, wear. Where we'll go, what we'll do. Constantly life is a matter of decisions. We just pick roads all the way through life and so it is fair to say that life consists of man at the crossroads. Ultimately, and inevitably, there is a final choice. A choice that not only determines time but a choice that determines eternity. That choice is the one to which our Lord speaks in these verses. The ultimate choice." ("This article originally appeared here at Grace to You).

Two paths, a crossroads, and a lifetime of decisions. The difficulty of the Christian path stems directly from confronting and making choices throughout life. Not only what we choose to do and say but even in the things that we think by holding our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Often times, likely not often enough, our actions are born of thought. Has anyone, most likely your parents, ever told you to "think before you do" anything or "think before you say" anything? When we hold our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ we can then hold our words and actions to the same. The objective is to curb the destructive path before it has the time to manifest through our actions.The problem is that this sounds much easier than it is. Our minds are often all over the place which can send our actions down the opposite path. Not only that but earthly pleasures try to weigh your tendencies down the destructive path as well. I'm sure we've all faced the issue of waking up Sunday morning and we don't feel like getting up or getting ready besides there's always the evening service, right? If not this evening then there is always next Sunday. We constantly talk ourselves into and out of things, constantly making choices.

The path can be difficult but only because we make it difficult for ourselves by consistently making bad choices and creating comfort by repeating these bad choices. These choices are often earthly in desire and there are so many different forces that can pull you off the path of righteousness that it is easy to see why Jesus describes the destructive path as wide. The fact of the matter is that there is so many different ways to end up on the wrong path that the information could probably fill many books but in this post I'm going to try and focus on moving the topic along to how we can make the path a little bit easier for ourselves.

Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals." - 1 Corinthians 15:33

Even as bad company corrupts good morals so too does good company convert bad morals. I remember having friends who would curse like sailors as the adage goes but I remained vigilant in my morals and because of this those friends became aware of their words which caused them to then start cursing less in my presence. I have also experienced the phenomenon as described in 1 Corinthians 15:33 where those words had begun to creep into my mind and then out of my mouth.

Notice that I said the words crept into my mind first and then out of my mouth. So lets talk a little bit about how we can make the path easier for ourselves. We have to make a habit out of 2 Corinthians 10:5 so that the things we do and say are born out of righteousness from the womb of our minds, which are habitually held captive to the obedience of Christ. That's not an easy task to accomplish when we may already have bad habits that we need to break. The good news is that repetition, a little perseverance, and copious amounts of prayer should do the trick. We begin by letting Jesus Christ into our hearts, then we help Him win the battle for our minds and then our actions will follow suit. So long as you think before you do or say then you can follow the narrow path that leads to life taught to us by Jesus Christ.



For a more in depth and comprehensive look at Matthew 7:13-14 check out John MacArthur's sermon I referred to earlier in the blog, you can read or listen to it HERE. As you delve into the path of Christianity it would be important for you to open your Bibles to read and understand Mark 3:20-35. John Piper has a great sermon about Mark 3:20-35 on his site and you can read that one HERE. God bless!