Matthew 7:13-14 "The Narrow and Wide Gates"
"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."
Luke 13:22-27 "The Narrow Door"
Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?"
He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' "But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'
"Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'
"But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'"
this is what Jesus said about how difficult it will be to find the road to life. many will even hear His word, yet they will not know Him. this baffles me. does this include some professing christians? how do we achieve a righteous life? these verses certainly raise a lot of questions.
it bothers me when people come and ask me for advice, but make no effort to seek God and strengthen their relationship with Him. what should i do? if all i can teach revolves around the principle of seeking intimacy with God? we talk about making God number one in our lives, but how do we make this applicable and palatable? how does the Church consummate her marriage to Christ?
this has been rolling over and over in my mind for a long time now. i knew the basics. i knew justification. i knew repentance. still, i wasn't seeing a means to "completeness" that i was hearing about from people's testimonies. oh, the testimonies. i've heard endless testimonies about how people have wandered aimlessly in life, with this emptiness inside them. yet they consistently posed salvation in Jesus as being what made them complete. He filled the gap. made them whole.
my conversion testimony happened when i was 6. i never knew this "emptiness" they were talking about. i don't remember being a lost 5 year old wandering aimlessly, doing drugs, living promiscuously, or even searching for answers. i knew Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life! why? because my parents told me!
so what did i struggle with? complacency. legalism. bad doctrine. peer pressure. lust. profanity. idolatry. all the while calling Jesus my Savior. i can truly say, that every sin i can remember committing, i did so while i was a christian.
i look back at my first blog on here... i'm still asking some of those questions. others i've found answers to. i'm still thinking about my actions. what my actions say about me. i'm still re-adjusting my life, and re-adjusting some more. i'm still dying to myself. every flippin' day! am i discouraged? my heart says no. i have something to live for. my life has meaning. my actions count for something. in 2 Samuel 24:24, David said he would not give God anything that would cost him nothing. in the same way, if i want God to bless me, i need to give Him something that costs me time... money... effort. if you have something that costs you nothing, it's not worth anything.
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