Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
These verses from Matthew refer to the “narrow gate”, but in this text Jesus is addressing the idea of seeking, asking, and knocking, then He moves into the idea of the “narrow gate” which is expounded on in Luke chapter 13. Starting in verse 23, “Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ 26 then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ 27 But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. 29 They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. 30 And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”
So the seeking, asking and knocking that Matt 7:7-12 addresses how fathers treat their sons in comparison to how God takes care of His children. Luke expands on the idea of what we need to be doing where it concerns the Lord. The thing mentioned here is that we don’t want to be workers of iniquity or unrighteousness. The concept is that we come to salvation on God’s terms. We are not to come to it on our terms. I generally see this attitude in ‘so-called” Atheism, it seems when you start to boil that down, it really has nothing to do with “not believing in God”. They simply don’t know, which the Agnostic will acknowledge. The Atheist in most cases came to either God, the people or God or salvation looking to “get” something they want, not what God has for them. It is also important to remember this when we pray. Prayer is powerful, however we need to keep God’s will and character in mind. In other words we don’t want to come to salvation or prayer with unrighteous or iniquity in mind. The narrow gate is God’s way, not our own. We cannot gain salvation on our own merit.
Application: When we come to salvation and our walk with God, seek, ask and knock with a humble righteous authentic and genuine approach. Do not ask God for unrighteous things and pursue a life where you are breaking every law you can find. Approach things how God would have you approach them.
Questions: Are our requests to God based on temporal things, selfishness or unrighteous things? Do we start to doubt God if we don’t get what “we” want? Do we think it is our merit that gets us into heaven, or do we truly rely on the saving grace of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior on His conditions?
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