The Narrow Road

 

Sometimes people listen to what I have done, or what God has done to me and somehow think that I am different from them.  They’re right, but they’re wrong.  We all have different paths to get us to heaven, and we are all at differing distances along our path.  We are all called to grow in holiness our whole lives, until (hopefully) we become one with Him in heaven, but we are all at differing levels of holiness, of closeness to God.  I write these words to remind myself --- especially in hard times --- to continue on my path, because the destination is worth any effort it takes.  I also share these words to remind you that while you are on a different path than mine, you are not alone in your spiritual struggles.  Sometimes the road to heaven gets difficult, but you can get there.  I know you can.

I recently again read these words from Matthew 7:14, “Narrow the road that leads to Life,” and suddenly I saw a new meaning to those words for me.  I always thought those words meant it’s tough (or even unlikely) for me to get to heaven, but looking at the words again and the total teaching there, I see that what they are saying is that there no group of people can go down this road; no, it is too narrow.  An army can’t go down this road, nor can an entire church membership nor, perhaps, even a large family.  Yes, that road God is speaking about is narrow, BUT, that’s because it is uniquely your road, created for you alone.  God made you a unique person, for a unique reason.  You are not like anyone else.  Your life has a purpose, and as you grow in holiness, getting closer to God, He will show you that purpose.  Your ultimate purpose is heaven, the happy ending He desires for all His children, but for you and you alone He says: “And here’s how I want you to get there; here’s your path.”  He gives each of us the general direction to “Love God and Love Neighbor,” but in our unique life He asks each of us to do it in a unique way.  Each of our paths to heaven may have many similarities, but each will be different.

Now, to be clear, relative to that “narrow road”, yours is not narrow like a straight white line that you have to walk, like a tightrope over Niagara Falls --- good grief, don’t slip off!!  No, for you, your path is relatively wide.  You have plenty of room to exercise your free will to go over to this side of the path, or quite a ways over to the other side.  The government may say “Here’s some wonderful laws to keep you on the straight and narrow path and keep you happy.”  But that road it created for everyone to follow is obviously a wide road, and also obviously it is therefore not the road to eternal Life, although it may make some people somewhat happy --- for now.  No one can dictate your path to heaven, certainly not any government.  You’ll have to find it, choose it, and stick with it.  It is a good path, plenty wide for you --- and wide enough for Jesus to walk along side with you.  And, likely, it is even wide enough for a spouse or a special friend to be with or closely follow you.

Another unique thing about your path to heaven is that sometimes you can choose to leave a while to walk a different path, with those who are finding their own path difficult to walk alone.  You can go with them a ways, giving them strength; that’s one way of loving your neighbor.  Your walk with them may be physical as you meet with them, or speak to them from across the country, or, ---- perhaps with even a greater impact ---- as you pray for them, or fast for their well-being.

We are meant to love God and love neighbor on our path to heaven; I think that in some ways God hears your prayers for others even more loudly than He hears your prayers for yourself, because He knows those prayers are you loving your neighbor, as He would.  Walking your unique road to heaven is being who you were meant to be.  I pity those who try to change themselves to be what THEY want to be, but not who God created them to be.  Will He recognize them on Judgement Day, or say “I do not know you?”