Matthew 7:14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
When Yeshua is speaking about the way to life, he in no way signifies ease and complacency. Instead, he mentions the difficulty with which this way is attained, and the relatively small number of people who remain determined enough to find it.
All of this implies that whatever the general crowd is believing about the way of God is very likely not the correct way, because the way to life is constricted and compressed. It is a difficult, narrow way that takes perseverance, determination, and sacrifice to locate and to maintain.
If this concept sounds foreign to us today, it would indicate we have strayed from the truth of God’s word. We have wandered onto the wide path of destruction because it is an easier way. It is a shallow and wide plain that most people travel because it does not take as much effort to navigate, and there is a like-minded camaraderie with others who also want the way to be easy and are anxious to be with others. It is a way requiring no personal risk, the path of least resistance, a mentality of safety in numbers.
Additionally, as much as this may be a foreign concept today, it was equally foreign to Yeshua’s original audience. The path of the religious leadership was the wide way, and most people accepted the rules and regulations that had been added to the simple law of God. However, Yeshua continually railed against the hypocrisy and insincerity of the religious establishment, pointing people to a kingdom where God was their Father, and they were accountable for their own relationship with him. But with that accountability came responsibility, responsibility to really do what’s right at all times, and not just go through the motions of religious man-made dogma. Doing what’s right is hard; it takes intentional thought and effort and personal sacrifice. That is why so few people actually commit to the narrow and restricted way.
However, the vigilant are those who remain alert to their surroundings and are always searching for the specific details of what’s right in God’s eyes, details that can get lost in the blur of activity each day. They are the ones who are constantly on the lookout for the narrow and difficult way in all of their actions, and are willing to put in the effort and sacrifice to stay focused on God’s purpose. Because this is their direction and where they find meaning, they are emboldened with the sense of personal connection and identification with Yeshua and the Father. Yeshua says the narrow way is the way of life, and that life is its own reward.
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