Matthew 7:13-14 NLT
[13] “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. [14] But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”

Hell… Life… What are these in the context of our existence on earth? Many Bible commentators explain Jesus’ statements as relating to our future destiny in eternity. However, as much as eternity is our ultimate goal, we must live this life here on this planet before we reach the destiny we want for eternity. How we live, what we do now will determine our eternal destiny.

To understand the difference, we must put these verses about life and hell in the context of what Jesus said about living in God’s realm as opposed to living in this world’s system. The first way can be a foretaste of heaven and the other a foretaste of hell.

Since there are only two realms in which we can live, either the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Satan, i.e., the world, we have a choice. Jesus said the one way is very narrow, the other a highway. What did He mean?

First, we must choose…not which way is the easiest and most convenient way but…which way will end up where we want to be.

The way of God’s kingdom is a narrow way because truth is specific. Truth is narrow. Truth includes single options, for example, sexual purity means saying “No” to every other option but faithfulness to one’s spouse for life and abstinence outside marriage. . Honesty means saying “No” to every other option but absolute transparency in every situation, no matter how difficult it might be.

The world’s highway, by contrast, can be the choice of any one of many options to evade the truth or to enjoy sin, even if there are serious consequences.

Whichever way we choose, we must first enter this way. Entering God’s kingdom demands a dramatic and drastic change of heart. Only God can make that change but we must make the choice. It means that we give the reins of our lives to Him. We die, once and for all, to everything that the world’s way offers, and follow truth.

The world’s way is easy. All we need to do is to go through the wide gate simply by continuing on our path of self-will without boundaries, and obeying the dictates of our selfish nature. We don’t need to be concerned about our destination. It’s too far ahead to worry about now, so we think!

The narrow way into God’s kingdom also requires a choice. We must enter through the little gate. It’s small because we must choose to shed everything that prevents us from going through the gate…every shred of self-will and self-effort must be nailed to the cross.

So, both ways have an entry point, a course of action, and an end result. Everything depends on what we choose. Our choices, in turn, depend on whether we care less about our destination and the way to get there and more about our comfort and convenience now.

Let me illustrate. I need to travel from Johannesburg to Cape Town. I go to the station, buy a ticket and look around for directions. I can either watch which train the majority of people are boarding, assuming that they are also travelling to Cape Town or I can look at the notice board to see which train will take me to my destination. How can I be sure that I will arrive in Cape Town? Only if I check the destination of the train I catch and board the correct train.

Jesus said that only one “train” will take me to life. All other “trains” will lead to hell. This means that, since life involves making a multitude of choices every day, every choice I make will take me closer to my destination. The entry point is a choice. The day-to-day choices I make are part of my journey. I must choose to follow the narrow path of truth to experience life, or follow my own way to experience hell both here and now and at the end of my life.

Foolish people think that they can go any way they like and reach heaven! That is as crazy as climbing on any old train, expecting to get to Cape Town. Wise people who want real life will choose to live by the truth because Jesus said that this is the only way to life both now and then.

Each one of is already on our chosen path. We can only change our destiny if we choose to change our entry point…the broad gate or the narrow gate. We will end according to where we started.

So, every choice we make today is important!

God’s passion for us is “Choose life!” but He can’t do it for us.