Matthew 7:14 – Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Hello readers, it’s raining here in Adelaide today. So an early end to work! I’ve got a lot I want to blog on but not enough time! But today I really just want to go with a simple question and a simple thought. I’ve been called narrow minded before, and I got to thinking, that’s not such a bad thing. In fact, the longer I thought about, the more I thought it’s actually a good thing and even a necessary thing.

The problem in my life is I haven’t been narrow minded enough. How ironic is that. If only I had’ve been more narrow minded! If I had’ve been more narrow minded I wouldn’t have wasted so much of my life, instead I would have redeemed that time I was given. If I was more narrow minded I wouldn’t have gone right and left instead of straight on in trusting and following the Lord Jesus Christ. The more I thought about it, it’s because I haven’t been narrow minded that I’ve gotten into sin and disobeyed God.

Jesus spoke about the narrow way which leads to life. It takes a narrow mind to be on that narrow mind. How could you have a broad mind and walk a narrow path? You can’t. A narrow mind is a must for the narrow way. The way of life is narrow, and it’s too narrow for a lot of people to walk. See, people want God to be LESS narrow, and they want you to be less narrow as well. They want God to accept their sin, their doubt, their disobedience, their rebellion, their opinions, their ways, their wants, their desires, their life. And they want you to accept it as well.

The modern church has become seeker friendly, which is just code for them having made that narrow way a lot less narrow so that they can get more people and more money in their churches. It really is that simple. But the narrow way is still the narrow way, churches made the narrow way less narrow, but really they’re just all walking on the broad road to destruction and have fooled themselves about the journey they’re on, the God they serve and the destination they are surely going.

Oh you’re so narrow minded! Well, I’ll take that as a compliment then. And you’ll need all the compliments you get when you follow Jesus Christ. The only compliments you are going to get from this world is criticism. Until you learn to esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the pleasures of Egypt, you aren’t going to make it. Until you learn to embrace the rejection and leap for joy as Jesus said when you cop it for following Christ, you won’t make it. Don’t let others knock you off the narrow way, instead let their false accusations and criticism and slander and gossip and hatred just deepen your faith even further.

False accusations and getting shamed are all part of taking up your cross and following Christ. Many Christians want a cross carrying free Christianity which doesn’t exist. Those Roman soldiers COMPELLED Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross, and this world will compel you to bare your cross after Christ. You’re not going  to somehow manage to follow Christ and be loved by the world, Jesus couldn’t manage it, and you won’t. The servant is not greater than his master. And a bit of rejection and hatred will do us all good anyway. Your faith won’t be worth peanuts until it’s tested. And you don’t know what you’re faith is worth if it’s never tried. The strongest trees are those that are exposed to the wind rather than sheltered which get knocked over when finally they cop a stiff breeze.

It’s actually a good and necessary thing to be narrow minded anyway. If I was more narrow minded towards Jesus Christ, I would obey him more, trust him more, and have a much greater impact on those around me for Jesus than I am currently having. If I was more narrow minded towards Christ, I’d be less minded to all the other cares and distractions and garbage and lies and slime of this world. Paul was narrow minded, if you look at how he wrote and what he wrote, he was narrow minded about a lot of things. And he said in Philippians 3:14 “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Hebrews 12:2 says “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”. If you’re looking unto Jesus, that means you’re not looking to anyone or anything else in life. That’s narrow minded. Jesus also spoke about the necessity of having a single eye in Matthew 6:22, because if you do not have a single eye and a laser focus on the Lord Jesus Christ and his word, you’re not going to amount to anything as a Christian.

So you must be narrow minded. And the more you think about it, the more stupid that accusation is. I’m narrow minded to rape. I’m narrow minded to pedophilia. I’m narrow minded to alcohol. I’m narrow minded to drugs. I’m narrow minded to murder. I’m narrow minded to adultery. I’m narrow minded to sexual sin, but if I was more narrow minded like Job was, when he said he had made a covenant with his eyes not to think upon a maid, I wouldn’t get to lusting and thinking and wanting things that I shouldn’t want and that I do not need and that would be harmful to me and my walk with God. God forbid we get less narrow minded in fact. The reason our country and society is in such a mess is because everyone lost their narrow mind about what was right and wrong, and now we are so anti-narrow minded that we don’t even know if we are a boy or a girl anymore. Madness!

The first instance of “narrow” in the Bible is in Numbers 22:26 “And the angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.” This is in the context of the story of a prophet called Balaam, who was a disobedient prophet. He wasn’t narrow minded at all, just read about his life. He wasn’t narrow minded on obeying God’s word, he was so un-narrow minded that he kept going back to God like God would change his word and what he had said. Where did God meet Balaam? God met him in the narrow way, in the narrow place, and that’s where God will meet you today. God is not going to meet you in the broad way, his way is narrow, he is the God of the narrow way.

If you read the first verse quoted at the start of this blog you’ll realize where I am heading and you’ll already be there ahead of me. That verse is Jesus Christ talking. Did you know the way to eternal life is narrow? It is ONLY through the Lord Jesus Christ? That’s pretty narrow ain’t it? That means it’s not through Mohammad, it’s not through the Pope, it’s not through Saint Peter, it’s not through Mary, it’s not through good works, it’s not through your best efforts and intentions, it’s not through you being essentially a good person. There is only one way to everlasting life, through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ. ONE way to heaven. ONE way to life. ONE way to God. How narrow is that? You see, God is very narrow. One truth. One God. One faith. One baptism. One Spirit. One word. One covenant. All from the God who is One. That’s incredibly narrow.

Did you know that the way to forgiveness from God is narrow? It is ONLY through the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you know God’s word is narrow? It is the truth, which means everything else is not. Hey, that’s pretty narrow. And you know why we buck against the narrow way? You know why we have so much of a problem with the narrow truth, the narrow way, the narrow word and the narrow God? Because we are not on the narrow way. We are not saved. You think God is too narrow, because you’re not on the narrow way, but on the broad road to destruction. You want God to be broad in accepting everyone and everything. Don’t be so holy God. Don’t be so true God. Don’t be so judgmental God. Don’t be so definite God. Don’t be so black and white God. But God has no changed. His word has not changed. And God will still only meet you and rebuke you and correct you in the narrow way.

The angel of the Lord had his sword drawn in that narrow way. You know what that sword is? The word of God. That sword is drawn against all who deny, dispute, and disobey it. You see, Balaam’s way was a perverse way. The word perverse refers to “turned aside, distorted from the right”. You see, there is a right way, and anything that is the wrong way is perverse. Sexual perversion for instance is any sexual relationship outside of what Bible defines as permissible. Sex was created for man and woman in marriage, and anything outside of that is perverse from God’s design and intention. God’s word says what is right and wrong, and it hasn’t changed. And that sword is drawn against you in your way of life against God. God’s word still keeps the narrow way. You get to God, you get to heaven through that book. But no, you still have to go through Genesis 1. You still have to go through John 1. You can’t go to heaven having called God a liar and not believed a thing he said.

It takes a narrow mind to walk the narrow way. So narrow mind really is quite a compliment. What’s designed as an insult or scorn or belittlement or disgust… it turns to my glory. It’s a good thing to be narrow minded to sin, to lies, to perversion, to all the garbage of this world. We need to get more narrow minded. You will be better off in life when you get narrow minded towards Jesus Christ. Fix your life on him and his word. If it isn’t Biblically based, don’t believe it. Get narrow minded to the things you don’t need to be doing or seeing or whatever it is. If we were more narrow minded we might actually start being the salt and light that we should be in this dark and evil world. How can you walk a narrow way with a broad mind? You can’t. There is a broad road for the broad minded to tread. But it’s the road to destruction. Many are on it, and many are going to hell. We better get narrow minded and a laser focus and dedication without compromise towards truth and towards the Lord Jesus Christ in a real hurry… just look down the end of that road that isn’t narrow!

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