Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few (Matt. 7:13-14, ESV).

Jesus said that there are two roads in life that a man could travel (and only two roads). One road He described as the Wide Road, and its path is “easy.” How is it easy? The person travelling this road seeks the blessings of this life (however they are defined for him, and however he can acquire them). There are the ones that are well-known: money, fame, power, the best of everything. And then there are those that fly under the radar of most Christians: success in ministry, a happy family, a big church, financial security (if not wealth).

What’s wrong with those blessings, you may ask? In themselves, nothing.  It’s just that we were not designed to seek the blessings. We were designed to seek the One who dispenses them. When we walk the Wide Road we seek to arrange our lives in such a way that we can procure the blessings and avoid the bad things of life. The Bible calls that by another phrase: living under the law. And Jesus said that the end of this road is not life, but destruction.

The other road is described as the Narrow Road, and Jesus described it like so: “The way is hard that leads to life.” Why is this way hard? Because the Narrow Road is traveled by the one who denies self, carries his cross and renounces claim to all he has and is. The one on this road longs to be transformed into the image of Christ and shuns the blessings of this life, choosing rather to share in Christ’s suffering. The one on the Narrow Road sees the trials and hardships of this life as the tool by which the Father refines and transforms him, much as the potter molds the clay, and the refiner removes the dross from the silver.

The one on this road will be blessed (and knows that it’s okay to pray for things) but leaves the manner and timing of the blessings up to God. What’s so great about the Narrow Road? It holds the promise of things that can never be attained on the Wide Road. While the one traveling this road will be blessed, the one traveling the Wide Road cannot hope to find true peace and joy (not to mention eternal life). Jesus said that only this road leads to life. Not only does one receive eternal life at the end, but also receives and experiences the true love, joy and peace of God that cannot be shaken by circumstance or trial.

To me, it seems that the Narrow Road is the way to go. We must all make our choice. We cannot walk both. To attempt to do that would be like walking in the middle of the road, not picking a side. Foolish is the one who tries to do so. To quote a wise proverb from a 1980s movie, “Walk on the right side of the road, safe. Walk on the left side of the road, safe. Walk in the middle of the road, get squished like a grape.”[1] Which road will you walk?