Today = Luke 13:18-35 + Genesis 24 + Psalm 17
In the reading in Luke, Jesus speaks of entering through the narrow door:
"Someone asked him, 'Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?' He said to them, 'Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.'" (Luke 13:23-24)
He goes on to speak of people coming to the door, pleading with the owner of the house to let them in, saying they ate and drank with him, but the owner insists that he does not know them and tells them to leave. I may not have the perfect interpretation of this ( and probably not), but I think the story speaks of how many people will play with the idea of following Christ, but they never act on it. They come to church or they do 'good' things, but they do not seek Him, which is the whole point. It is a very very narrow door. Some days I realize that more than others. We are not living to a cultural standard of being a 'good person,' but a holy and perfect standard created by God. Obviously we can't stand blameless in front of him. Jesus is the only way to do that. And following him is hard. It's not natural or easy. It is simple, but it is not easy. And it is worth it. To be able to enter into God's house is worth it, no matter how narrow the door is.
1 comment:
Angie, I love this! The sermon at Grace today was about false prophets and how to recognize them, and it got into things like how they think doing good deeds or being a moral person can save them, like that's "enough." One of the main points was to keep the main thing (Jesus) as the main thing in your life. You hit the sermon almost dead on from a totally different passage. We were studying 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Things like this really make it clear to me that the message is VERY simple. It's repeated so many different times in so many different ways throughout the new testament.
Also, "narrow door" makes me think that we've got to be in shape and be working out constantly... spiritually, that is. Some really insightful stuff in here, Angie! Keep it up! (Also, now you know I am reading, so you know you've got people who will notice if you slack off :) in the most loving way possible!) God is great!
<3<3
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