VERSE:
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
— Matthew 7:13

THOUGHT:
Matthew 7 is the concluding discourse of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount”. In the Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5-7), Jesus clearly lays out the difference between what life “in the Kingdom” looks like from life in the world. There are two separate roads to be on, and since they are headed in opposite directions it is impossible to have a foot on each of them. There is no middle road. The fact that Jesus commands us to make a conscious decision to “enter through the narrow gate” is evidence that we have already passed through the wide gate and are on the broad road. The scary reality that Jesus points out is that most people will choose to stay on broad road even though it leads to destruction.

APPLICATION:
Read Matthew 5-7 and compare your life and viewpoints to the Kingdom perspective that Jesus lays out. If you find your perspective at odds with the perspective that Jesus lays out, ask Him to help you conform your heart and mind to His. Make a conscious decision to enter through the narrow gate and plead with others to do the same.

PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, conform my life to the standard of your word. Continually remind me of the fact that there is a broad road which leads to destruction, and keep me from it. In Jesus’ Name I pray, AMEN!