Matthew 7:13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu,Melech Ha Olam/Blessed are you O Lord our G-D, King of the Universe.
Shabbat Shalom Mishcopa/Happy Shabbat family
On Thursday I decided to leave work a few minutes early to get a head start because I wanted to go to the market. As I was driving home there was a certain man who was in front of me driving a corvette with the top down and playing his music very loud. I was getting ready to turn on welsh and boulevard onto welsh road. Therefore I needed to get over into the turning lane. As I tried to move into the turning lane the man with the corvette was blocking me from getting into the lane. I beep the horn asking him to move up a little so I can move into the lane. He looked towards me put his hands up to show me that he did not have any room to move. So I sat there for a minute thinking, if I stay here I will miss the signal to turn. I looked around to see if there was a way I could get around him without him moving his car. Then heard a still voice say go around him. I thought to myself, if I go around him I have to go on the curb. And that is exactly what I did. I swerved around him as I went up on the curb and swerved back down off the curb to get into the turning lane. The man looked surprised as he saw me ride by him. I even shock myself because I wouldn’t even think about making such a move if the Ruach Ha Kodesh did not tell me to go around him. And soon as I went around him the light turned green for me to make a left turn.
I thought to myself if I would have stayed behind him waiting for him to move up. I probably would have still been sitting in traffic. I called my husband and described to him what had happened and he was excited for me. The reason I was excited about this situation is that I’m not an aggressive driver. Normally I would have just stayed there and waiting for him to move. However, The Adonai gave me the boldness and confidence I needed to just go around him. It was tight and not a lot of room to go around but because I went on the curb I was able to do so.
As I pondered on this experience The Adonai spoke these words to me “The Narrow Way”. Let me explain. In my opinion, the man could have easily moved his car an itch over so, I could drive around him. In simpler terms; I wanted the easy way out of this situation. But could it be The Adonai harden his heart that he refused to move to show me how I could have the boldness and confidence to just go around him? This brings me to my point. As believers in Yeshua Hamashiach sometimes we want the easy way out. We look for people to do what we want and situations to turn out as plans. But we all know life does not always work out like that. How can we learn the lessons G-d want us to learn if we never experience difficult situations? The Adonai never promised us the easy way. On the contrary, the scriptures remind us that there is a narrow way we must take as believers. As I stated before it would have been so easy for the man to move over so I could just get around him. But because he didn’t I had to take the narrow way.
In Matthew 7:13 Yeshua tells his disciplines that narrow is the way and few will find it and wide leads to destruction and many will want to go this way. (Paraphrasing it) This clearly shows us how many will want the easy way to salvation. For example, live as you want and G-d will accept you. But as we see here when something is narrow it is not that easy to go through. I looked up the definition narrow and I saw many examples of what narrow means. But one stood out to me which was limited or restricted. Yeshua told his disciplines “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6. The point is He is the narrow way (the only way). When people are trying to make a decision such as which job to take, what to wear, who to marry, what college go to; they begin to narrow down their choices. Well in this case we have only two choices; either take the narrow road which is Yeshua or the wide road which leads to destruction. We cannot live a crooked lifestyle and assume we will inherit eternal life. We see this in Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able”.
In closing, I encouraged you to make sure that you are striving to go the narrow way. Yes, this way is harder, we have to give up or natural desire and be committed to following Him. But just like anything we want in life we have to be willing to go through the process to reap the benefits. I remember when I decided to get my MS in counseling. When my friends were hanging out going to different functions. I had to say no because I had to write papers and complete assignments. It was not easy but it paid off.
Shabbat Shalom Mishpachah
Your Achoti/Sister
References:
Vine, W. (24 Jun, 1996). Narrow - Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/dictionary/viewtopic.cfm
Smith, C. (1 Jun, 2005). C2000 Series on Matthew 7 by Chuck Smith. Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/smith_chuck/c2000_Mat/Mat_007.cfm
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Narrow. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved July 18, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/narrow
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