Mat 7:13 | KingComments | STEP | Here the Lord speaks over the heads of the disciples to the crowds. He offers them the choice between the narrow and the wide gate, between entering life or being lost. The gate is narrow because someone can only enter through it if he does not want to bring anything of himself. The gate is not too narrow for someone who humbles himself before God and becomes small. The gate is too narrow for someone who thinks he can enter through it on the basis of his own good works. Those works make someone big. People with works of their own righteousness enter through the wide gate. Many choose this easy gate and the equally easy way to live a pleasant life. The end of that road, however, is destruction. The narrow gate is only discovered and entered by a few. This does not mean that God’s grace is narrow. God’s grace is rich and free and available to everyone. But few want to appeal to grace. Only those who see that they cannot be before God and confess their sins to Him enter. They choose the way of life. That is a narrow way. The crowd is not to be found there, but that way leads to eternal life with God.

‏ Matthew 7:13

Two Gates, Two Ways

Here the Lord speaks over the heads of the disciples to the crowds. He offers them the choice between the narrow and the wide gate, between entering life or being lost. The gate is narrow because someone can only enter through it if he does not want to bring anything of himself. The gate is not too narrow for someone who humbles himself before God and becomes small.

The gate is too narrow for someone who thinks he can enter through it on the basis of his own good works. Those works make someone big. People with works of their own righteousness enter through the wide gate. Many choose this easy gate and the equally easy way to live a pleasant life. The end of that road, however, is destruction.

The narrow gate is only discovered and entered by a few. This does not mean that God’s grace is narrow. God’s grace is rich and free and available to everyone. But few want to appeal to grace. Only those who see that they cannot be before God and confess their sins to Him enter. They choose the way of life. That is a narrow way. The crowd is not to be found there, but that way leads to eternal life with God.