No hint of pride allowed

Jesus is a black and white person. I’m not talking about skin-color. He is dogmatic and spells out truth in definite terms. His descriptions of spiritual realities are never wishy-washy or vague and people are either saved for eternity or they are not. However, statements like this are not an excuse to consider myself superior. Jesus said,

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)

Years ago I talked about my faith with a Jewish man. He said, “How arrogant of you to think that you can know you are right with God.”

At first, I defended my belief; the Bible does say that a person can know for sure that they are forgiven and have eternal life. Now I realize that it wasn’t my claim to eternal life that upset him as much as it was my arrogance. Back then, I would use verses like the ones above to justify my attitude that this life is made up of “us” and “them” and that I belonged to the right group.

Spiritual growth means learning to read and interpret statements like this in their context. Jesus was talking to a group of people who looked down on their noses at outsiders. They were spiritual elitists who needed His warnings about judging others. While He did acknowledge that there are two groups, He never gave either of them permission to abuse or malign the other. Instead He told them to ask God for help with the godly way to behave, and offered His people what we now call the Golden Rule.

After telling them to treat others as they wanted to be treated, Jesus made this statement about the narrow gate. If I read it right, this is an admonition to those who are hung up on judging others and are not obeying that Rule. Instead, they abuse “outsiders” and are very likely on the same path. That is, such behavior indicates that both those who unjustly judge and those they judge are on the broad way. This way could also be called the way of “everybody does it” and that prideful attitude leads to destruction.

The narrow way is not about acting superior, or putting people down. Jesus says that few people who have that attitude can find the narrow gate that leads to life. For the proud, this way is too confining, too difficult, because it is about humility. It is about realizing that I have done nothing, zero, nada, zip, to earn or deserve the blessings of God. I cannot be arrogant.

How often my heart protests such confinement. I want to boast, to be somebody, to be noticed and recognized. But, as my Jewish friend noted, even when I am trying to glorify God, if that attitude is present, it will present itself and by it, everything I say or do will be ruined.