“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."- Matthew 7:13-14
It is as clear as day what God calls us to do in this passage. The path He lays out for us is narrow. Some synonyms for "narrow" are "Confined, Restricted."
Many of those who view this path initially may feel like God is telling us to give up everything that is "fun" in our lives. (being a drunkard, drugs, lust, guilt, envy, lying, stealing, partying, pre-marital sex)... the things of our lives that seem hard to give up at first, the baggage we carry.
As a young believer I used to view the narrow path as a tight rope. .. one wrong step and I would fall off entirely. However, as I continued to walk faithfully, trusting in the Lord. I soon realized that even if I fell, there was Jesus (the safety net) catching me. Jesus paid the price for our sins, our shortcomings. He paid the ultimate price so that we won't fall (die), so that we will have life everlasting. He is our Encourager when we mess-up. He comforts us with his Grace which covers us with forgiveness. He assures us that there is nothing we can do to make Him love us any more or any less. And He challenges us to leave what caused us to fall off the path behind.
The story of the woman and Jesus at the well: John 4:1-45
Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. [1]
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. [2] The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.
What I really want to focus on in this passage is how Jesus "calls out" the woman from Samaria in verses 16-20. God cannot be fooled by the things we try to hide. We may lie to ourselves and lie to those around us about the choices we make behind the scenes, but God knows the truth. And He calls us to live by the truth of His Word.
What is awesome about God and what Jesus did was he searched out the sinners and befriended them. He chose to reach out to and save those who were living in lies. What I mean by that is, that they believed the "lies" of the world that told them it was "OK" to live in sin.
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17
When you go to the doctor and you are sick what does he say? Does he tell you to keep going outside in cold weather without a jacket? Does he tell you to continue to eat fatty and high in sugar foods when you have diabetes? Does he tell you to keep smoking when you have lung cancer? ..........."NO!" He tells you what you can do to change your lifestyle so that you start feeling better. A good doctor will urge you to cut out the unhealthy stuff in your life that is making you sick. He may also give you medicine to aid you in getting well.
So what Jesus is saying in Mark 2: 17 is that He is like the Doctor who heals the sick. God has said what is sinful and will cause you harm, His diagnosis is laid out in God's law (the ten commandments). You can also find many passages in the New Testament where Jesus and the disciples identify what God considers as sins.
Jesus's prescription to get well: Commit your life to me and (drink the water I give you)REPENT---Turn away from your sin.
Remember the woman who was going to be stoned in John 8 because she was caught in adultery? How Jesus challenge the men who were going to stone her. "Let anyone of you who has not sinned be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8: 7 NIV) Of course the crowd dropped their stones and walked away. Then Jesus says to the woman "Neither do I condemn you, now go and leave your life of sin" ( John 8:11 NIV)
LEAVE YOUR LIFE OF SIN----Repent
Jesus knew that the women in both stories were sinners. He did not condemn either one, He did not judge them. However, He did not ignore their sin either. In the case of the woman at the well, he brought her sins to light. She could not hide from God's truth that having many husbands and living with someone who wasn't her husband was sinful. In the case of the woman who was going to be stoned, Jesus was compassionate. He did not condemn her or punish her, He saved her from death! But He did not say.. "now go and keep living life as usual"
Repentance is hard to wrap your head around. It is not an easy thing to accept or commit to. In fact we will most likely fall short. But Jesus is our hope. He is our Great Encourager, Savior and Friend who says " If you drink the water in which I give you, you will never be thirsty again."
We can't walk away from sin on our own. We need the Lords strength and He promises to be there for us.
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." -Deuteronomy 31:6
"The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." - Psalm 18:2
Be encouraged.
