Verse of the Day Devotion: Matthew 7:13-14
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” – Matthew 7:13-14
These two verses speaks of the way to our eternal future. Jesus here is telling His listeners that there are two choices, however, one of them is the way that leads to life, while the other only says it leads to life, but it is a deception. Let us look closely at these two gates.
First, there is the wide gate. This is an easy gate to pass through. It is wide and spacious, that requires little work to pass go through. This is the gate of deception. It is an easy gate to find, therefore many pass through it. In fact, they will come to this gate without the need to seek it, for they will eventually come to it. It is like a popular road that many travel on and when they get to the wide gate, they will walk through it. However, this gate does not lead to life, it leads to destruction.
This gate is the one that denies the reality of Christ. They may have heard of Him and may even act as though they are a Christian. However, they choose to do things their own way rather than God’s. People choosing to take this gate may attempt to find the easy way. They choose teachers who preach what they want to hear, not what they need to hear. Paul put it this way in a letter to Timothy. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4. They may think they are saved. but they will find themselves sadly mistaken.
The second gate is what is known as the strait or narrow gate. This is a difficult gate to go through. It is a very narrow gate, so narrow that few find it throughout their lives. This is the gate that true disciples of Christ know of and pass through. This probably refers to those gates in Rome that were for private entrances which were not readily seen. Those who find and go through this gate are those who have studied the scriptures and know what God requires of them. And, like the Bereans, they would check out everything they read and heard to ensure they were following the truth. They found the gate because they searched for it, validated it was the correct gate, and then passed through.
This leads to our calling as Christians. We are commanded to lead the world to the narrow gate, explaining what reality is regarding our eternal existence, while showing that the wide gate may be easier to find, but will only lead, as our focus verses tell us, to destruction. It is imperative that we go into all the world, giving them the map to the strait gate, showing them how to get there, and why it is the desired way. It is the only way to eternal life with Christ, and we are the ones to tell everyone this truth.
William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.