The Narrow Gate

The Narrow and Wide Gates



13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
 
It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets  Spoken by Albus Dumbledore.

I love to wander.  Many times I gotten in the car with no destination in mind, but to wander, explore and enjoy the journey.  When Trudy's parents came to visit us in Australia, we took them to Tamania for Christmas.  As we drove around the island, we would stop at any place that was even mildly interesting.  Trudy's dad had a very difficult time with this.  If we left point A in the morning to get to point B by that evening, he expected us to go by the straightest route in the fastest possible time.  We had long "disscusions" about the purpose of our trip.  Trudy and I saw it as a journey and her dad saw it as a destination.

What this passage reminds me is that the journey and the destination are both important.  Wandering on a day off is one thing, wandering through life without a destination is another.  For our lives to have purpose, we have to have a destination.  I am not talking a location as much as I am a goal.  To reach that we can not merely wander with vague notions of where we are headed.  We have to make choices that lead us to that goal, destination, or life. 

Central to my beliefs is the idea of choice.  God has created us as free agents, able to choose.  Those choices determine who we are.  Regardless of what others do or don't do, we are responsible for our choices.  If someone treats me badly, I am reponsible for how I respond.  If things don't go my way, I am responsible for how I react and deal with the situation.  If I am going to make it through the narrow gate, I must make choices that lead me down that narrow path.  I must turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile, give away my riches and love others as I love myself. 

The whole purpose of the Sermon of the Mount for me is set out a clear set of sign posts directing me to the narrow gate. Read the signs, choose to follow them and the gate is open.