Devotion 12/18, Narrow or Wide gate?

Jesus said, “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.”
Matthew 7:13-14

This passage causes some to question the goodness of God. After all, if He really wants to save everyone, why didn’t He make it easier to be saved? Why doesn’t He simply let everyone into heaven?
When we read the word narrow, we tend to associate it with prejudicial selection. It sounds as though God has rated us all on some scale of acceptability and only allows a select few to enter His presence. However, a few verses earlier, Jesus had told the same audience, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7–8). Jesus made it clear: the path to eternal life is open to everyone who asks.
The gate to heaven is “narrow” in the sense of having a particular requirement for entrance—faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation is found only in the Person of Jesus Christ; He is the only way (John 14:6). The “wide” gate is non-exclusive; it allows for human effort and all other of the world’s religions.
Jesus says that the narrow gate leads to a “hard” road, one that will take us through hardships and difficult decisions.
To follow Jesus requires us living by faith, enduring trials with Christlike patience and living a lifestyle separate from the world. These are the stair steps to heaven and eternal life.
When faced with the “choice” between a narrow, bumpy road and a wide, paved highway, most of us choose the easier road. Human nature gravitates toward comfort and pleasure. When faced with the reality of denying themselves to follow Jesus, most people turn away. Jesus never sugar-coated the truth, and the truth is that not many people are willing to pay the price to follow Him. Again, it is a “choice”.
God offers salvation to everyone who accepts it. But it is on His terms. We must come the way He has provided. We cannot create our own paths or come to a holy God based on our own efforts. Compared to His righteousness, we are all filthy, born of this world, sinners. God cannot simply excuse or overlook our sin. He is merciful, but He is also just. Justice requires that sin be paid for. At great cost to Himself, He paid that price. Without the blood of Jesus covering our sin, we would stand guilty before God.
The way to God was completely closed, and sin was the roadblock. No one deserves a second chance. We all deserve to stay on the “wide road that leads to destruction”, the highway to hell. But God loved us enough to provide the path to eternal life anyway (Romans 5:6–8). However, He also knows that in our self-centered, sin-saturated world there are not many who will desire Him enough to come to Him on His terms. Satan has paved the highway to hell with fleshly temptations, worldly attractions, and moral compromises. Most people allow their passions and desires to dictate the course of their lives. They choose temporary, earthly pleasure over the self-sacrifice required in following Jesus.
The narrow gate is ignored. Most people would rather create their own religions and design their own gods. So it was with sorrow, not discrimination, that Jesus declared that the road to eternal life is “narrow, and only a few find it.”
Again, it’s a choice. God could have created us as puppets, but instead He gave us a choice. And what would more pleasing to Him than when those He created choose to believe in Him and accept Him as their Lord and Savior.

Lord, thank you for providing the Light for my path to an eternal life with You. I pray for strength to follow you, to resist the fast lane of satan. Use me for Your will, send your Holy Spirit to fill me that others may see Your love in me and seek a personal relationship with You. In Christ’s name I pray, Amen.

Lord, I chose your pathway, it’s really not very crowded, seems most take another road. But I chose you and your path, knowing you are with me, always. Thank you for your hand that lifts me when I stumble and your light that shows me the way to eternal life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen