Saturday, March 7, 2015
Today’s Scripture: Luke 13:22-30
"Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able…. Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:24, 29)
“Listen carefully: Recognizing God is not the same as coming to Him. Hearing God in your heart is not the same as answering. Working for the kingdom of God does not mean living in the kingdom of God. Christianity is not believing the truths of the Bible; it's acting upon them and allowing God control of your life. You must respond to God and make the choice to interact personally with Him.” ― Henry T. Blackaby, Experiencing the Spirit: The Power of Pentecost Every Day
The effect of all this leaves Christians wondering what is the true way to God. Many people wonder do these Christians have it all worked out, at least, they claim they do. Some Christians are absolutely certain that they know the path that leads to God, they are absolutely certain they are on that path, and they are absolutely certain everyone else is wrong.
The problem lies in the fact that we human beings are always seeking and believing that there must be a clear and certain way. We desire clarity about life. We want to know, what is the right way and what is the wrong way, because we are extremely uncomfortable living the ambiguous, uncertain, and hazy lives we all live. We want to find the perspective that clears up all the murky spaces and tells us what to do without our needing to struggle or think for ourselves.
When it come to our faith and following Jesus there is a severe problem because Jesus’ way does not necessarily lead to clarity and certainty. Jesus tells us to “strive to enter through the narrow door.” Jesus declared that entry to the kingdom can never be automatic, but is the result of a struggle and striving first for the kingdom. Jesus tells us, “Keep on striving to enter.” The word for striving is the word from which the English word agony is derived. The struggle to enter in must be so intense that it can be described as an agony of soul and spirit.
We run the danger, that, once we have made a commitment to Jesus Christ, we have reached the end of the road and can as it were, set back and relax, as if we had achieved the kingdom. There is no such finality in the Christian life. We must always either be going forward or necessarily we start to slip backward. For the life of a disciple of Jesus is ever an upward and onward way.
The narrow path we are invited to enter and walk is both an individual and a communal one. The decision to enter the door and walk the path is ultimately ours to make, but at the same time it must be shared with others. We need others to help us stay on our path. While, at the same time ours is a path that requires us to struggle with our own particular torments and desires. We need the wisdom and support of others who are also walking their narrow paths, but at the same time our particular and unique path winds in different directions.
Our striving to enter the narrow door includes a commitment to walk the path to follow God wherever God leads us. This is not necessarily the way we want to go. We want to walk a path either of our own choosing or of other’s choosing. Our striving to enter may involve facing our fears that arise making that commitment to follow Jesus. Our fears often convince us that our choice of a path is better, but is not leading us in the direction God wishes to follow.
Entering the narrow door also requires a willingness to be transformed. We offer up our prayers, calling on God to change our neighbors, to change our sons and daughters, to change the world, to change our situations, and to change our plight and problems in life. We just don’t want to hear nor anticipate that God’s answer to our prayers will be to first turn to us and say, “All right, but first I must change you.”
Henry Blackaby, a writer on experiencing God and spiritual leadership, says that if we are to follow God, the process of entering the narrow door entails profound change because it will lead to a crisis: a crisis of faith and action. Blackaby is saying that if we walk the narrow path that God sets before us, it will require, that we grapple with our faith and with making it concrete in our lives. We will have doubts. We will be unsure. We will feel lost, and we will not be certain if what we are doing is truly what God wants. We will be tempted to give up, lose faith, and not act. To keep going means to not know what we are doing or where we are going, but simply to trust that God knows what God is doing to enrich our lives. At its foundation, this is what faith is all about anyway.
Walking the narrow path requires us to adjust our whole way of seeing, thinking, acting, and perceiving. We have to change who we are. We become partners in our own transformation, for when we decide to change ourselves by becoming the clay with whom God can work, we create the conditions for God to transform us. When we enter the narrow door, we become not only transformed by God’s grace, but we take ownership of our own decisions and choices. We are making decisions based on a completely different agenda. An agenda God has created for us and leads us to follow.
If we are willing to face our fears, deal with the crisis’s of faith that will come our way as a result of entering the narrow door, and following God’s path where he leads us to walk. Then we will find ourselves in the midst of the kingdom, then one day we will be a witness to that day, when, “people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.” (v. 29)
Today’s Lectionary Readings
Morning: Psalms 43; 149
Evening: Psalms 31; 143
Jeremiah 5:20–31
Romans 3:19–31
John 7:1–13
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