Read Luke 13:22-30
What A Wake Up Call!
As Jesus was teaching through many towns and villages, someone asked this question: “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” Jesus responds by saying, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door.” What is this “narrow door?” In John 10, Jesus calls himself the gate/door to eternal life and all who enter it will be saved. But those who try to enter through another gate or door will not enter and will not be saved. That’s why it’s so important to make “every effort” to go through the narrow door because if we have a sloppy effort it means we have a sloppy understanding of what it means to be saved. Jesus said in John 14:6 that “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to God the Father except through Me.”
Sadly, we live in a world that believes there are many ways to enter heaven. There will be many who will go to church and read their Bibles, and will stand at the gate into heaven and won’t enter. They’ll say, let me in because I had fellowship with believers and heard many sermons, so let me in. And Jesus Will say, “I don’t know you. Away from me all you evil doers.” And the place they go to, Jesus said, will be a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
What a wake up call! Jesus is looking for a 100% commitment, not a sloppy commitment. You have a Bible? Great! You read it? Great! You go to church (sometimes)? Great! These are all good things, but they don’t save you. It is all about a relationship with Jesus. It affects your whole heart and not just on Sunday. It’s a walk with Jesus every day. I want to follow Jesus with my whole heart and not just when It’s convenient. I don’t want to have one foot with Jesus and one foot with the pleasures of this world. Deep inside, I think we all know if we have a sloppy faith. Let’s not deceive ourselves into thinking “I’m good enough” when in fact God is saying “I don’t know you! Away from me!”
