The Narrow Gate

The Narrow Gate

I know many of you probably already know this but I just felt like putting this in words, maybe for any guests or struggling members to read.

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THE NARROW GATE...

Being a Christian may seem easy but it is a lot more difficult than it looks.

When you are at the crossroads, what path do you follow?

Do you look at the big, pretty gold gate with it's ornate patterns and park-like setting?

Or do you look at the smaller gate - one that has probably seen better days. Whose gate is simple and practical.

That is the beginning of our walk. At this crossroads. One little post stands next to you...two little signs hang on two pegs. One is a pretty, polished sign entitled "THE WIDE GATE" and the other is somewhat plainer, simplere titled "THE NARROW GATE".

Sure, the wider gate is prettier, nicer-looking, more comfortable to walk along. The narrow one...it is a path full of thickets and thorns, but what is at the end of those paths?

The wide gate...it leads to a dead end, a sharp and deadly cliff. Where will you go now?

The narrow gate...it leads to a beautiful garden, where you become a stronger person. Where true treasures are stored and where thieves and moths cannot steal or eat away at anything.

So, which path will you take? Will you take the pleasant gate, a path that slowly and unknowingly eats away at you, even though it is comfortable.

Or will you take the narrow path, where it is a test of your strength and your faith? Where in the end you become a stronger person, a person who learns that even the prettiest things, the nicest places, can never get you anywhere.

It is your decision. So which one will you walk?

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What I am trying to portray here is these things -

- While the bigger gate is more comfortable, it is not the best walk in the long run.

- The narrow gate may be simpler, more practical, but it teaches you many things and in the end, changes your lifestyle and mindset completely for the better.

- While there isn't anything wrong with beauty, sometimes the most dangerous things are clothed in beauty.

- The wider gate is more comfortable, but when you come to the end, it is not as comfortable as it seemed.

- The narrow gate is not as comfortale along the way - you get cuts, bruises, and sometimes want to give up. But when you reach the end, you see that all your preservance, your faith and trust in the Lord will get you somewhere.

So, when you're walking along the narrow path, always know whose on your side. In the end you will see that it was much better than the other decision!

God bless
NTG
 
There is a teaching in Matthew 19 regarding the smaller of two gates.

Matthew 19:24 states, "24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

From the original manuscript texts a parable tells us that there were two gates into the walled city. The large gate was closed and locked at night to keep caravans from entering after dark. However, there was a small gate, called the "needle gate" ( or 'eye of the needle' from the Greek texts") that was left open. If a caravan wished to enter after dark, each camel would have to be fully unloaded outside the gate because the gate was so small that only the camel itself would fit through it. So it is with man. At earthly death, those who have earthly gains can not enter the gate to heaven with all their belongings because that gate is just big enough ( figuratively speaking ) for the soul to enter. The parable teaches us to unload our baggage before we die - to repent of our sins and leave them all at the 'gate'.

May God bless.
 
There is a teaching in Matthew 19 regarding the smaller of two gates.

Matthew 19:24 states, "24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

From the original manuscript texts a parable tells us that there were two gates into the walled city. The large gate was closed and locked at night to keep caravans from entering after dark. However, there was a small gate, called the "needle gate" ( or 'eye of the needle' from the Greek texts") that was left open. If a caravan wished to enter after dark, each camel would have to be fully unloaded outside the gate because the gate was so small that only the camel itself would fit through it. So it is with man. At earthly death, those who have earthly gains can not enter the gate to heaven with all their belongings because that gate is just big enough ( figuratively speaking ) for the soul to enter. The parable teaches us to unload our baggage before we die - to repent of our sins and leave them all at the 'gate'.

May God bless.

Thankyou Pastor Gary for the beautiful illustration.
 
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