Am I striving to gain eternal life through the narrow gate of trusting and obeying Christ? 

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

INSIGHT:  There are many who teach that “being saved is easy” and say that anyone who teaches that it is hard to be saved, or who teaches the need to obey God are teaching a false “works based Gospel”. 

So many are led into deception on this because they fail to see the two sides of the salvation coin.  Scripture shows us that the forgiveness of our sins (1st side) is indeed free and easy, but that following Jesus Christ (2nd side) will cost you everything.  If you were the thief on the cross and you repented, you could be easily forgiven by faith, and it wouldn’t cost you anything, except your pride to confess your sins.  However, if you did not die immediately, (like the thief did), after you have believed on the Lord, now comes the hard part of receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your soul (1 Pet 1:9).  If your faith was genuine, you signed up to be a bondslave and a living sacrifice to Christ, your King (Rom 12:1), with an enemy who will do everything he can to stop you from making that sacrifice.  That first easy step of belief qualifies you to now begin the 2nd step, your hard service to Him.  When God forgives your sins, that is just the beginning of your salvation.  Jesus did all the hard work to forgive your sins, but now your hard work and perseverance in faith begins!  Jesus said, “He who stands firm to the end, shall be saved.” (Mat 24:13)

You were bought at a price and no longer have a right to your life as you see fit, just because you believed.  God now gets to do with your life as He wishes, and you must remain faithful all the way to the end of your life, no matter what he puts you through, for you to finally receive your inheritance of eternal life.  This is why it is so hard to be saved, and this is why Jesus said the way is narrow and only a very few find it. 

This 2nd hard side of the faith is why someone in Luke 13:23, asked Jesus, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”  and why in in 1 Pet 4:18, Peter says it is hard for the righteous to be saved.  And why, in Rev 2:10 Jesus said, “Be faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

“Easy believeism”, is a false teaching which totally contradicts so many of Christ’s teachings.  If your form of Christianity is a counterfeit, and your Lord is still trapped in the paper of your Bible, you will say a prayer, go to “church”, and think that is the finish line of your salvation.  If, however, you have the authentic Christianity, with a living Lord and King, the same yesterday, today, and forever, you will learn to hear Him and do His will in a living sacrificial relationship.

The reason entering the narrow gate is so hard and must be done with striving (Lk 13:24), is that it costs you so much!  As we have seen in Christ’s teachings, it requires a full surrender of our life and obedience to Jesus, not just intellectual assent and a prayer.  There is no such thing as “Jesus, my Lord or Savior.” It is “Jesus, my Lord and Savior”.  There is no such thing as salvation without surrender (Lk 14:33). 

And, contrary to what we want to believe, Jesus did not, and does not do it all.  One minister rightly said, “If Jesus did it all, we would all look like Jesus, and I’m sure you’d agree we don’t.” The reason we don’t all look like Jesus is because we have a vital role to play.  That’s not blasphemy; that is the teaching of Jesus! 

If we are born again and walk in humble daily dependence upon Him, He empowers us by His grace, but we still have an important part to play as servants.  The Bible teaches that we must partner with God, by His grace, making every effort to live godly (2 Pet 3:11), to perfect holiness (2 Cor 7:1), to hold firm to our faith (1 Cor 15:2), to resist the devil (Jam 4:7), to avoid bad company (1 Cor 15:33), to forgive others (Col 3:12),  to live worthy of the call we have received (Eph 4:1) and to love each other (Jn 13:34), among many other things.  Now can you see what Jesus means by the narrow gate, and are you absolutely certain you are headed towards it?