Revisit the Need to Strive to Enter the Narrow Gate
By Rev Tay Piak Kheng 3 November 2024
It is a shame that Christians often disregard this timeless warning of our Lord Jesus, for they misunderstood it was for the nonbelievers only. Whereas there are many professing Christians who have yet to enter the kingdom of God.
There are also true Christians who have a saving relationship with Christ, i.e. they are in Christ but are yet to cherish and live out this priceless relationship. They are not prepared to put in effort to enter the narrow gate and, therefore, have not walked through the narrow gate. They join the Sunday service without praising God; they care about their friends but not the children of God. They do the work of God according to their schedule, personal goals and the way of the world that they are familiar with…etc.
The saving relationship with Christ empowers us to realise that the breath and everything in our life depend solely on God’s grace and enables us to love God more than his gifts. We bow down to Christ to obey His Kingly will for us. We attune our hearts to His heart and our thoughts to His thoughts. When we strive to live this way, we strive to enter the narrow gate.
To illustrate, when Abraham decided to leave Ur and go where God wanted him to go, he was striving to enter the narrow gate, for he had to abandon his palace-like mansions to live in a tent for the rest of his life. King David strived to enter the narrow gate when he refused to eliminate his deadly enemy, King Saul, once and for all because of his fear of God. Another beautiful example is when the poor widow put the only two small coins she had into the temple offering box in order to enter and worship God.
In The Pilgrim Progress, when Christian told Formalist and Hypocrisy that by climbing over the wall into the city, they trespassed and violated the revealed will of the Lord of the city, they challenged him, “If we are in, we are in. What matter is it by which way we get in?” Is your condition better than ours?” Christian answered, “You came in by yourselves without His direction, you shall go out by yourselves without His mercy.” (paraphrased)
Beloved of Christ, the Lord told us that many wanted to enter His kingdom but could not. We have received faith to enter freely. Shouldn’t we agonise to enter?
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