“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-15).
Loving God with purity and passion from the heart is a kind of eye, and a lantern for the soul. Pure love scrutinizes all the thoughts and actions of a man; it is able to distinguish between right and wrong and sets aside anything that is not pleasing to the Lord. Pure love keeps one free of delusion, as well as illusionary superiority (1 Jn. 4:18). This Agape love surpasses status, race, creed, color and economics, and it values God above all else. Agape love transfigures one into a seeker, a traveler, unhappy unless walking the Royal Road toward Christ Jesus, the skilled Captain of the soul. Walking the Royal Road keeps one’s soul from self-destructive impulses, slothfulness and an unfruitful harvest (Prov. 20:4). Walking the Royal Road keeps one humble and divinely anointed with a fire that consumes the world’s grave clothes. The Royal Road (the narrow path) has a narrow gate, but there is another choice, a wide gate with a broad road. There are two different traveling companions, the few – or the many. And there are two different destinations – heaven or hell. The man that walks the Royal Road has left the sandy foundation behind and is now standing on the Rock. This believer stands, while the man on the wide path falls as soon as the last-days tribulation appears. Two very different foundations and walks, they either cause the house to stand, or to fall (Matt. 7:24-27). The winds, floods and the enemy’s storms are on the horizon. Make no mistake about it. When the tribulation comes upon the world (and it is already knocking at the door), only the believer who has been born again, washed in His blood; walking the Royal Road, has chosen correctly (Matt. 24). Jesus is the gate, he is that door; he is the ONLY way to the Father, to heaven (Jhn. 14:6). ONLY Jesus died for the sins of the world. Islam’s leader did not. Nor did Buddha, Sun Yung Moon or Confucius. No other leader, in all of history, shed his blood on a cross so that you and I could experience total forgiveness and know his Agape love that leads us along the Royal Road. One day soon, if we endure to the end, that narrow road will lead to golden streets (Matt, 24:13; Rev. 21).
Transition
Lord, remove our proliferation
of boastful pride and arrogance;
freed from Aaron’s indulging thousands
with religious song,
dancing around the golden calf of compromise.
May our outbursts of zealous, energetic
obedience bring inner courage
amidst religion’s bright lights of acclaim.
May our coveted assignment lead
us to Tarshish by way of Nineveh
(the narrow road), while we flee not by some exotic escapism,
counting ourselves worthy of Shangri-La;
while shunning our Nineveh-like assignment
in life’s traffic jam of virtue and sin.
Deaden our hearing of the propagandists
lying about “what could have been” if we had
taken the less challenging road.
Keep us from spiritual wanderlust.
Rather as hermits, gathered around exemplars
of austerity and contemplative prayer;
as spiritual stability builds its monastery of
noble-bound holiness and stability—
within our sacred souls of wholeness,
until we reach the streets of gold.
Meet the Author
Alan Bullock
Alan Bullock has a BA in Biblical Studies, a Master’s Degree in Biblical Counseling, and an earned Doctor of Theology. In addition, Alan is a Certified Pastor Counselor, a member of The International Association of Christian Counseling Professionals (IACCP), and also a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC).