WHERE ARE YOU STANDING?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“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

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.”

Luke 13:22-24

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Through His words in our scripture passages for today from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, we find our Savior Jesus asking a fundamental question to all of us:

“Where are you standing?”

It’s call to check our bearings in life, to do a self check on our status as we appear fully exposed today before Him and God the Father.

Note that the answer to Jesus’ question is not one with a lot of options. In fact, there are only two.

On one hand, we could be standing on the narrow road, a road accessed through a narrow door or gate. This is the entry point and place we should be standing, the place where Jesus wants us to be. Here’s what He said about it:

“…small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:14

“…many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” Luke 13:24

The narrow gate or door leads onto the narrow road of life and not just this worldly life but the eternal one to come through the One (Jesus) who tells us in the Gospel of John:

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

There is only one way to God the Father and it’s through Jesus. That’s the only path to salvation and when compared to all the ways the world offers us to travel, it’s a narrow option but the right one. Not everyone will find the narrow way because not everyone will accept Jesus. We see that taking place just as much today as it was in Jesus’ time and I’m afraid it’s a trend that will continue. In fact, if you read the scriptures and how they prophecy the run up to Jesus returning and you will see that this situation of people choosing the broad and wide road over the narrow one is going to get worse and not better. This is what Jesus is getting at when He says only a few will find it as He already knows the future and the end game that will come at His return even before it comes. He knows how far mankind will fall into wickedness, sin, and evil before He comes back.

So yes, many people have entered through the wide gate and are walking the broad road leading to destruction which is frankly eternal damnation and a life of torment in hell. And the real problem is that many of these people don’t realize where they are standing. They have no situational awareness of their doomed status and the anguish that lies ahead. In fact, many people who are on the broad road of destruction actually believe they are standing on the narrow road, somehow convinced that their path to heaven will be paved by their good works alone. It’s a great deception that is impacting millions upon millions of people today.

And so I ask again, “Where are you standing?”

Are you on the narrow road to life, found by entering through Jesus who said this about Himself:

“Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” John 10:7-9

True life, now and forever, is only found through Jesus. He is the narrow gate we pass through, the entry point for the narrow road to salvation and eternity, the only pathway to God the Father.

If you haven’t received Him as Lord and Savior, you are standing on the wide road, destined for everlasting anguish and suffering in hell, a road no one should want to be standing on. If this is where you are, I pray you will change course, come to Jesus, receive and accept Him as Savior, and get yourself on the right path, the path that will ensure you really live, basking in the glow of the Lord’s love and mercy and grace, now and forever more.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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