A narrow way?

A West Indian man chose Islam over Christianity because to him Islam “is a noble, broad path with room for a man and his sins on it. The way of Christ is too narrow.”

My devotional reading laments that too many professing Christians today don’t see the issue as clearly as this Muslim man and fail to understand or accept Jesus’ definition of the narrow way. They don’t see it as a “difficult or demanding way” and “a life of self-denial and intense effort.”

I’ve mixed thoughts as I read this. I do understand that this gate refers to how a person can have eternal life and that the gate is narrow. According to Jesus, it is limited to one way and one gate. For this, Christians are said to be “narrow-minded” but our idea of salvation does not come from our own perspective or desire to be exclusive, but from Jesus who said things like this:

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

The broad way (or the broad-minded way) includes every other idea about religion and spiritual matters, including the effort to earn or deserve God’s favor, getting stuck in a religious system of rules that supposedly please God, or even the idea that there is no heaven or afterlife. Jesus lumps everything else but Himself into the broad way when He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

This is not a new teaching. For instance, Proverbs 14:12 hints at it with, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

This narrow gate to God is offensive because it also says we are sinners, cannot save ourselves, and that Jesus died in our place. To be saved, we have to accept those things, admit that they are true, and put our faith in Him, not in anything we can do. It also says the broad way has only one result — eternal condemnation and separation from God.

However, this verse and today’s reading imply that the narrow way also means that the walk of a Christian is restricted and difficult, making demands that are not pleasant and require intense effort. Here is where I have mixed feelings. In one sense, this is true, but in another sense it is not.

Once through the gate, walking with Jesus does ask that I stay there. I cannot go back to my old sinful ways and prosper or have a spiritual fruitful life, but must rely on Jesus for everything. He is the boss and I must do everything He says. That is demanding, yet as I walk with Jesus, it seems that my life has expanded and my sense of freedom is enlarged. How can that be?

Perhaps Jesus talked about the narrow way and the narrow gate to deter triflers. He didn’t want anyone to buy in without counting the cost and then later bail out because they didn’t want this self-denial stuff of the narrow way. That makes sense. Start and stop Christians are a poor testimony of His saving power. He wanted people to be certain that they cannot do this on their own. Salvation is about letting Jesus take charge of my life and knowing that I cannot live the Christian life apart from Him. Trusting Him totally means that I must be fully aware that the way of faith is simply too difficult, too narrow to trust myself and my own ideas.

However, Jesus also said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). That means that after going through the narrow gate I must stay on the narrow way and when I do, my life is richer and fuller than I ever thought possible.

I understand the reasoning of those who choose that broad way that allows sin. I also understand that up front all they can see is a narrow gate. Oh that they could just step through it and see the wonder and the freedom that is on the path on the other side.