Read Matthew 7:12-14 

“¹³ 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. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

We live in a world where the majority of us have more choices than ever. In comparison to most of history, we even get a smorgasbord of options when it comes to religious belief. Into this buffet of belief, Jesus singles himself out as different to every other choice. While his immediate audience would have contrasted him with the pagan and Jewish religions, the same principle is clearly meant to apply to us today. From amongst Judaism, Islam, atheism and all manner of ancient and modern spiritual options, Jesus says only he is the “narrow gate…that leads to life”.

This isn’t simply a claim of superiority, but it also rubs against our primal nature that defaults to the wide gate – the way of options, customisation, and combination. Jesus makes it very clear that if you’re on the more popular or prosperous paths, you have missed him. He is clear that his path is the one that the minority, not the majority are willing to choose. This doesn’t seem to be just because his path is hard, but that it’s his path.

Jesus isn’t simply calling us to, “do hard things”. Rather, he’s calling us to one single “hard thing” – giving up our rights to comfort and self-determination by making a conscious choice to choose him and the path he determines for us. In Philippians 2:8 we read that Jesus is very familiar with this call and the great cost that comes with it, “And being found in human form, he [Jesus] humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Far from being morbid, we need to remind ourselves, that it’s this hard, narrow path that has transformed history and our world! In fact, without Jesus choosing humility, we wouldn’t have access to Jesus and all that he promises us. 

Jesus wants us to be assured that when we choose him, we get not only real limits but true life. Some of these limits will be very stark and costly (rejection, ridicule, persecution or worse), but like Jesus’ path, the outcome is always life in its deepest sense. It seems that Jesus is indicating that if you are willing to choose the narrow gate you get a deeper life and eternity with him. If you choose the path of least resistance, the wide gate, you experience not only a shallower earthly life but eternity without him.

Jesus knows we are all prone to choose the path of least resistance. He is graciously urging us to choose him, his limits and the life he offers to all who seek it.

Is there a way in which you have chosen, or are choosing the wide path? What would you have to risk if you chose the narrow path of Jesus?