The Narrow Door

Lord, will only a few people be saved? Luke 13:23

Will only a few be saved? We can understand this question that someone asked of Jesus. But some may understand it from the perspective of fear, some from that of arrogance, and certainly some from that of innocence, hoping that all will be saved. But the answer Jesus gives is not one of numbers. The reality is that the answer cannot have a measurable, numerical response. Jesus’ response is, rather, one of loving challenge. It is one of theology, not of statistics. He says, “Do your best to go in through the narrow door; because many people will surely try to go in but will not be able.” Notice here that He says “many,” not “most.”

[content-ad]

It is clear that the answer to this question is not a matter of numbers, but is rather a matter of the proper attitude, the proper faith. What is the narrow door? Is it a particular religion? Or, a particular denomination that is the “narrow door” that Jesus is talking about? No. The narrow door is Jesus Himself. He is the only Way. He is the only door through which we can gain entrance into salvation. We must keep our eyes on Him, and only him. We must love Him more than anything else in the world. We must live and to love as He did when He walked among us. For, you see, if we love Jesus and live His Way, we will be better able to love our spouses, our children, our neighbors, and, yes, even our enemies. This is the narrow path, the narrow door to salvation.

We know that these words are easy to write, or to preach, but we also know that to walk in the Way of Jesus is much more difficult. We human beings are prone to hypocricy. We see the wrongs of others so clearly, but we do not so clearly see our own. We know, in the depths of our hearts, and in the heights of our intellects, that we want to love Jesus above all else, to never lose sight of Him in all that we do, but, oh, how aware we are that we fail in this all too often. Still, we can always turn to Him for forgiveness of our sinful failures in the confident faith of His personal love for each of us. We know that He wants us to succeed, to enter into Paradise through Him. So, in faith, we can always pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and turn again to Him and His Way, and He will be there to accompany us again, and again. Let us pray, then, that we may always keep our eyes focused on the Narrow Door that is Jesus.