The Narrow Gate (Matthew 7:13)

08/28/09

Let me begin by saying that there are only so many points that I can make through this blog entry.  I want to inspire people to follow the Lord through this blog, but there are so many hours in the day, only so many words I can write, and so many words that I write that you will be willing to read.  I do not want to sound jaded or cynical, but I just want it to be known for record.  With that said, I will begin. The Narrow Gate, Matthew 7:3 states, “enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction and there are many who take it.  For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (NRSV).

You try your best in this life.  If you try your best you try to make decisions based on the bible.  This is what I hope to do for every decision I am faced with.  I confess, however, that I do not always put the Lord first.  I make excuses for praying or repenting.  The narrow gate is an interesting bible verse, and it makes me ask a lot of questions.  Here are some of the questions I have:  when you pay for charities, it is seen as helping people.  But doesn’t feeding people who are poor make them dependent? And isn’t creating that dependence bad?  Shouldn’t everyone strive to be independent?  The ultimate question being, if one did not pay for charities, would he or she still be serving the Lord?  Different question:  Don’t teachers in teaching others carry the subtle insinuation of knowing more than the pupil or student?  And if these teachers think that they are above the students, or smarter than them, aren’t they guilty of sin?  Perhaps the overarching question is will the teachers enter the narrow gate?  I am not completely sure about the answer to the last question, but am fairly sure that I am guilty of judging teachers, which according to Matthew 7 is wrong.  In my defense I am trying to understand the bible, and if in judging others on the way, then it is better to, according to Ecclesiastes 7:5, “hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools” (NRSV).  Here I am saying that I am wise.  Hopefully you just laughed, because the Lord knows I am not the smartest, and that there are always going to be people smarter or wiser than me.  We will turn now to a new topic, the topic of Intelligence and smarts.  Intelligence and smarts are interesting, because if one man says he is smart, than another can say he is not.  This man who says the other is not smart perhaps can prove he is right to others by creating a impossibly difficult test for the first man to take.  If he fails, then his theory was proven true.  This is were I fail to understand (note the irony) the meaning or significance of intelligence and smarts.  I pride myself on being able to read and write.  Typing these words and reading them on the screen is something that others can and many cannot do; but I am not perfect.  This blog is flawed.  This blog depends on my intelligence and smarts.  The words I am writing in this entry are my own.  You may have read in previous entries that I have said that the holy bible is the sole source of truth.  This is something I believe.  So with every word you read, you are being cheated, because you are not reading the words of the bible.  Is that right?  Here comes another question: is this blog worth your time reading it, or should I stop creating entries?  I like to think that in reading this entry I am pointing you to the bible so you can be filled with inspiration to worship and serve the Lord.  There are so many ways that one can serve the Lord I think, but perhaps I am wrong.  Perhaps there are only a few ways.  And those few ways lead one to enter the Narrow Gate, taking the road that is hard and that leads to life according to Matthew 7:5.  I need to read the bible more to find answers to these questions no doubt.  Before we put the issue of intelligence and smarts to bed, I want to ask another question, one concerning Mark Zuckerberg.  Mark Zuckerberg the founder and CEO of Facebook, the online social networking site went to Harvard.  By most standards of intelligence, he is very smart/intelligent.  My question, and I want to be careful to ask it objectively without judging him, is this:  IF there is/was a man who is/was as smart as Mark Zuckerberg, why would he be atheist?  Why would he not believe in the Lord?  I read it on Mark’s facebook page on a 60 minutes program about facebook, and also confirmed that he is atheist on Wikipedia (which I probably should not have done!)  But if he said he is atheist on his facebook page, I believe that he is if he wrote it for everyone to see.  So why would such a smart person not believe in the Lord?  I do not understand.  I pray for Mark Zuckerberg, that he would be able to see the Lord in his life.  Shifting gears, it’s time for another topic of discussion: basic belief.  Some people believe that a man or woman who is charismatic, personable or simply sincere is one to admire or even give that man or woman a vote.  The question I have is this:  IF there was someone who was charismatic, personable and sincere, and he or she was a secular humanist, would he or she still be truly sincere?  My pastor said last year or the year before last that you can’t believe in someone just cause they sound sincere—they actually have to believe in the right things.  Namely the person has to believe in the Lord!  Turning again in a different direction, I admit I struggle with not giving into peer pressure.  I confess that sometimes I am too concerned about what others think.  I am starting to think that I need to stop this.  I need to stop caring about what others think, because there is only one being who I need to impress: the Lord.  And again, it’s a hard road to stop caring about what others think, but all things considered, it is the road that leads to life according to the verse.  I want to do what is right, but sometimes, for whatever reason, I am not able to do just that.  I expect others to do my job, or worse yet, I just forget to do the job.  I confess that I may have forgotten to pray some nights this past summer.  Perhaps I am taking the gate that is wide and the road that is easy.  I pray that the Lord can help me turn away from forgetting if it is in fact the will of the Lord.  Once this past summer, I had doubts.  It was the same doubts that I had when I was making a joint decision for jury duty.  I did not know for sure what the accused had done, and based on the evidence I really was not sure.  But what happened this summer was with my job.  I took kids on a 3 day overnight wilderness trip in the Sylvania Wilderness Ottawa national forest in Michigan.  I had food waste that I wanted to eat, and I ate a lot, but I needed to throw away the rest somehow.  There was not firepit, and I usually would use a firepit.  There was a dumpster, and it was definitely big enough for me to put the food scraps, but there was a problem.  The dumpster said throw only paper in the dumpster.  I did a dumb thing then, I did some justification.  I thought that if the man who made the rule that the only items to be thrown in the dumpster were paper, if this man understood the situation, he would not be upset, and it would be ok.  I threw the food in the dumpster.  I probably should not have.  I do not know how I could have solved the problem otherwise.  Maybe I could have tried to eat the rest.  I might have gotten sick, but it would be the right thing maybe.  The hard road that leads to life maybe involves taking on disease or breaking the law.  I do not know exactly, but I want to continue to read the bible for answers.  I understand that some, if not most psychics charge money for their talents.  I do not want to judge psychics, but I think that selling that talent that the Lord gives you is wrong.  The alternative I am not sure would suffice.  For example if you made $10 a palm reading session, and then realized that it was wrong according to the bible, you might decide that you need another job, and when you cannot find one for whatever reason, and you end up homeless, then you might realize that sinning might be the only way to survive.  Is that right? I again am not positive what the right answer is.  Is musicians selling music o.k.?  is that misusing the talents the great Lord gives you?  Is paying for a palm reading session bad because you are paying another for a talent that the Lord gave, and not one that you can independently provide yourself with??  Another question on the topic of right and wrong:  If a prostitute wears revealing clothing is it your fault for looking at her less than modest style of dress?  Is it hers?  Is she asking to be looked at?  And not just a prostitute but any lady who dresses in a way that inspires a man to lust?  The questions continue:  IF a man looks at porn, is it okay that he does because he did not create it, but simply watched what others created?  If he said he would not look at it if it were not produced is he saying something that the Lord would not frown upon? Matthew 5:28 says, “but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (NRSV).  It makes me think that I should make it a goal to sin as little as I can.  So the producers and the consumers of porn are all in need of a new way to spend his or her time!: reading the bible and making time for the Lord.  Another argument is that people who shoot other people are not committing a crime.  IF a man or woman is truly prepared, he or she will wear a bullet-proof vest everyday everywhere.  If someone was to shoot him or her, the person might suffer, but not to a degree of mortal danger.  I have another question this one about politicians.  If politicians may think he or she is above the law or may be trying to please some people and not others, or trying to please everyone isn’t in them doing so, aren’t they learning to deceive?? And if so isn’t that sinful?  I pray that I would not judge politicians, because the bible tells us not to judge others, and also it is a position that any type of individual might consider.  I pray that politicians everywhere, if it is the will of the Lord, that they would realize that the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and many take it, but that it is not a reason to join that crowd and that the road that is hard leads to life and few find it.  I pray that I would find it and that those who follow the Lord find it, if it is the will of the Lord.  Whatever is the will of the Lord, I pray that that will will prevail, if that is the will of the Lord!  Amen.