In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus says: “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.” I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the concept of the narrow road and what it means in my life and generally in the life of a Christian. And as I’ve thought about this idea, I’ve also considered how unique and individually God speaks to each one of his children. That got me thinking – what if the gate and road are narrow because they are only for us? Each of us has our own fears, trials, experiences; what if, because of this, we cannot walk anyone else’s road to a relationship with God? What if we each must find our own gate and walk our own road?
There are a lot of people out there who will tell you exactly what you need to do to “be saved” or to “get into heaven’. They have all the answers and you just need to do what they tell you, go to their church, and say what they tell you to say. How many of those people show up for church on Sunday, but leave God at the door in the rest of their lives? There is a reason the term “Church hurt” exists. I’ve seen it in my own family. I’m not going to tell you that being a member of a church isn’t important, because it is – we love our church. I’m not going to tell you that you shouldn’t read the Bible, because you should – don’t let someone else tell you the truth about who God really is. I’m speaking to those people who used to believe that there is a God, but have been wounded or scarred by a version that was not good and loving. To the person who was guilted into their belief or worse, scared into it.
I’ve been trying very hard to listen to the voice in my heart that speaks to me and calls me to action. Today I felt called to pick up my book Discovering the Character of God by George MacDonald. For many of you, that name is unfamiliar, but he was perhaps the single greatest influence on C.S. Lewis’ conversion to Christianity. The God George MacDonald writes about is one of perfect, unfailing love and so today I thought I would share the passages that spoke to me and very much reflect my guiding beliefs in my own faith journey.
“I do not say that we are called upon to dispute and defend the truth with logic and argument, but we are called upon to show by our lives that we stand on the side of truth.”…. Jesus defended his kingship, not with argument, logic or opinion, but rather by the laying down of his earthly life. He bore witness to the truth not by words, but by the essence of his very being.”
“Jesus is a king because his business is to bear witness to the truth; all truth… – first of all that his Father is good, perfectly good, and that the crown and joy of life is to desire and do the will of the eternal source of will and of all life.”
The way to share God isn’t by arguing someone down to your way of thinking, it’s to be more like Jesus – to show God’s love in everything you do. I’m walking my own narrow road in my relationship with God. I believe very strongly that our most powerful testimony is in the way in which we live our lives and not in the things we tell other people to believe. That God calls us not to preach, but to be like Jesus and lay down our lives for our fellow man. Maybe that means making time for a friend, donating to a charity, kissing your child. It is in those acts of love that we feel the closest to God and I think our truest nature. It is not our job to change hearts – that is for God alone. What we can do is pray for those we love and be a shining example, “a light in the darkness” for when they are ready to walk the narrow road home.
I pray today that God speaks into your heart and shows you the narrow road He is calling you to walk toward a deeper, more personal relationship with a “perfectly good” Father.
God bless,
Meredith
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