Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road 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”, (NIV).
How do we find this way to life? How do we intentionally choose the narrow gate that leads to life – not just in our choice to follow Jesus and eventually have eternal life in heaven, but HERE on earth, in our lives right now? How do we make choices in our lives that intentionally reflect the sacrifice, the set-apartness, and the costly nature of following Jesus?
I think we do it one step at a time. I think choosing and walking the narrow road in our lives doesn’t ever happen by accident, it happens one intentional (and often hard) decision at a time.
It happens when we choose to obey what God is telling us to do in our lives even when everyone else around us is telling us we’re crazy.
It happens when we choose to love the people that society tells us to walk away from, to leave on the outside, and to ignore.
It happens when we decide to make a stand for people who are unable to speak for themselves.
It happens when we ignore other peoples’ opinions of others and choose to get to know those people for ourselves.
It happens when we say yes to going where God calls us to go, even if it means leaving everything we know behind.
It happens when we choose to courageously love others, even when they don’t love us back. It happens when we give, and do so without an intention to get anything in return.
It happens when we choose to put others before ourselves. When we let someone else cut in front of us in line. When we pay for someone else’s meal in the drive thru. When you let someone else choose the restaurant. When you do something someone you love wants to do, even if you don’t enjoy it. You do it because you know they do.
As much as our decision to choose the narrow way is reflected in the big decisions in our lives, it is also seen in all these little things.
Every time we wake up, we have a choice to do the harder thing. We have a choice to put those we love before ourselves, even though we don’t feel like it. We have a choice to stand up for others who can’t stand up for themselves, and we certainly always have a choice to intentionally show others the love of Christ even when it is hard, and even when they might be people that society has cast off as being “unworthy”.
Don’t tell yourself you’re going to wait for something bigger to do to spread the love of Christ, or to choose to walk in His ways. Choose now. Do the hard thing, in all those little ways. Do it now, don’t wait. Choose the narrow way, not just in the big decisions, but in the little ones, too. Do it because that’s what Jesus did, and that is what He has called us to do, too.
Leah's blog 