Take the Narrow Path to Freedom
“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. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” Mathew 7: 13, 14.
I believe one thing the narrow path represents is a narrow focus on obedience, doing what’s right and glorifying God. And not focusing on meeting our own needs, solving our problems, medicating our pain, and taking care of ourselves.
It’s essentially to focus on the kingdom of God and His righteousness and to leave “all these things” to His care (Mathew 6: 33).
We’re not familiar with household servants in this day and age, and I’m not condoning the practice. But I think we can learn something valuable from the analogy.
Because this is what it means to be a servant. A servant doesn’t concern himself with his own affairs, but with those of his master.
Seek First the Kingdom and Take the Narrow Path
His focus is on doing his master’s will. He doesn’t concern himself with his own problems and needs. Because he knows his master will take good care of him as long as he takes good care of his master. He’s confident that if he’s about his master’s business, he will be about his.
Another way of saying this is that the narrow path is the path of resisting temptation, and the broad path is the path of yielding to it.
We all know resisting temptation is difficult, especially at first. It involves trouble, affliction and suffering tribulation. This is the literal meaning of the word narrow according to Strong’s Expository Bible Dictionary.
Whether we realize it or not, the reason we want to sin in the first place is to meet a need. So, to not sin is to deny yourself this need, and trust God to take care of it. Sin is also often a habit and breaking a habit is not easy.
But every time we resist the temptation, it will be a little less intense next time. And it will come a little less frequently. Until eventually we are so used to resisting it will be no problem.
And ultimately, we will not be tempted in that area at all anymore. We will have resisted temptation until it flees as our friend James tells us (James 4: 7). We will have become perfect and complete in that area. And we will have attained life in that area where we were once weak.
Take the Narrow Path of Affliction
So, resisting temptation is the narrow path of affliction, trouble and suffering tribulation. But that road ultimately leads to freedom from temptation and life.
Yielding to temptation, on the other hand is the broad path because it’s the path of least resistance. It’s the easy, comfortable road because it doesn’t involve saying no to sin or needs.
It’s the path of indulging our lusts and thereby trying to meet our own needs. It doesn’t require self-restraint, self-denial or self-control. It doesn’t involve having to trust God and wait for Him to meet our needs.
But the ultimate destination of this path is death. Because just as resisting temptation leads to freedom from temptation, so yielding to it leads to bondage to it. And corruption.
The More I Restrict My Freedom the More Freedom I Attain
Ironically, the more I restrict my freedom to sin in an effort to meet my own needs, the more freedom from sin I attain. On the other hand, the more I indulge my “freedom” to sin and meet my own needs, the more enslaved to that sin I become.
This means I’ve lost my freedom. That narrow path is the path of self-control that leads to freedom. The broad path is the path of self-indulgence that leads to bondage.
To read another post related to Take the Narrow Path to Freedom see Evil or Affliction: You Have to Choose.