Not Judging, but Doing
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“Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto
life.”—Matthew 7:14.
In the time of Christ the people of Palestine lived in walled towns,
which were mostly situated upon hills or mountains. The gates, which
were closed at sunset, were approached by steep, rocky roads, and the
traveler journeying homeward at the close of the day often had to press
his way in eager haste up the difficult ascent in order to reach the gate
before nightfall. The loiterer was left without.
The narrow, upward road leading to home and rest furnished Jesus
with an impressive figure of the Christian way. The path which I have
set before you, He said, is narrow; the gate is difficult of entrance; for
the golden rule excludes all pride and self-seeking. There is, indeed,
a wider road; but its end is destruction. If you would climb the path
of spiritual life, you must constantly ascend; for it is an upward way.
You must go with the few; for the multitude will choose the downward
path.
In the road to death the whole race may go, with all their worldli-
ness, all their selfishness, all their pride, dishonesty, and moral debase-
ment. There is room for every man’s opinions and doctrines, space to
follow his inclinations, to do whatever his self-love may dictate. In
order to go in the path that leads to destruction, there is no need of
searching for the way; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad, and
the feet naturally turn into the path that ends in death.
But the way to life is narrow and the entrance strait. If you cling
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to any besetting sin you will find the way too narrow for you to enter.
Your own ways, your own will, your evil habits and practices, must be
given up if you would keep the way of the Lord. He who would serve
Christ cannot follow the world’s opinions or meet the world’s standard.
Heaven’s path is too narrow for rank and riches to ride in state, too
narrow for the play of self-centered ambition, too steep and rugged for
lovers of ease to climb. Toil, patience, self-sacrifice, reproach, poverty,
the contradiction of sinners against Himself, was the portion of Christ,
and it must be our portion, if we ever enter the Paradise of God.
Yet do not therefore conclude that the upward path is the hard and
the downward road the easy way. All along the road that leads to death
there are pains and penalties, there are sorrows and disappointments,
there are warnings not to go on. God’s love has made it hard for the