Word-Filled Wednesday: Roads and Gates (and false doctrine)

Welcome to my contribution to Word-Filled Wednesday, hosted this week by the lovely AmyDeanne at the 160-Acre Woods. Be sure to stop by there and check out other visual inspiration from Scripture - and don't be afraid to add your own!

My grey matter is obviously on vacation. I ALMOST posted some VERY faulty logic on this very blog, in this very meme. And it's a mistake I bet lots of people make.

But the scariest part, to me anyway, is that, for a few hours of my life, I actually believed it.

First I'm gonna share the "correct" picture, then I'll share my "mistake," and what I learned from it.

Here's my "true" Word-Filled Wednesday


Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14

As I was puttering about my day on Tuesday, I remembered this verse, and decided it was the perfect one for my post. So I went searching on photobucket for a good picture of a narrow road. Once I found it, I started copying the verse, phrase by phrase, onto the picture.

Well, let's just say a couple of the phrases got juxtaposed. And this is what I ended up with!

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

Anyhow, I finished up my picture, shut down my computer, and started dinner, the whole time pondering what exactly this meant--and that I'd had it wrong for ten years. Sure, the gate is small, but the road is broad. Once we get through that gate, we have all the possibilities in the world. How wonderful is that, my demented brain celebrated.

But then I copied the verse into my blog, and noticed I'd gotten it all wrong.

I think a lot of people look at the Christian life that way. Sure, there's only one way to Christ, but once you're there, that wonderful Christian liberty takes over. We're Christians, so we're forgiven. We can do whatever we want and everything will be fine.

But it's not true. If we want to stay close to Christ, and please him, we have to go through the narrow gate AND walk down the narrow road.

The only path that will please Him--the only way that will make us more and more like Him--is His path. So stay on it. Just because you came through the right gate doesn't guarantee you will be on His road.

Heavenly Father, help us believers to remember that salvation isn't the only thing. Help us to stay on that narrow road, not veering to the left or the right. Guide us in what pleases You, and give us discernment regarding our Christian liberty. Help us remember, Lord, that just because we have entered through the narrow gate doesn't mean we can't stray onto the wide path that is not meant for us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen

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