MondayReflection

  31^st July 2023

Rev Charles Seet considers

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The Road Less Travelled
Matthew 07:13-14

Life is full of choices to make. I think we don't have to live long to realise that.

But thankfully, most of the choices we make do not really have much of an impact on our life. For example, sometime this morning you decided what clothes you would wear to church today. Later today you will decide what you will be eating for lunch. These choices are largely inconsequential, and so we should not be anxious about them.

But some of the choices we make do have a great impact on our life -
like choosing the right school for your studies, choosing the right career or job, and choosing the right spouse.

Making the right choice in such decisions will bring much joy, but making the wrong choice will bring much regret. The question is: How do you make such choices?

Some may say, "Whenever I have to make a choice, I simply choose the easiest way." And others may say, "I just follow the prevailing trends and simply go with the flow."

If this is the way that you make your choices, you may end up going the wrong way.
Taking the easiest path and going with the flow can actually be quite foolish and even disastrous at times.

Oftentimes the more difficult path is the one that we should choose, and going against the flow is the right thing to do.
The best choices we make are those that are guided by sound biblical principles. God's Word is designed to help us to choose wisely. And this is what we will see in this message from the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus recommends us to take the Strait Gate
(Matthew 7 v.13)
Enter through the narrow gate (strait gate: KJV)
Note that the word here is 'strait' not 'straight.'
The idea is that of restrictiveness. The strait gate seems to be less inviting to people because of the inconvenience of having to squeeze through such a small opening. It certainly does not permit anyone to carry a lot of baggage through it.

The question is:
Have you counted the cost of following Jesus?
Are there certain things in your life that you refuse to give up?
Perhaps you have grown up with a sense of entitlement.

You believe that you deserve certain privileges.
You want to get your fair share of attention, respect, satisfaction and success.
You impose unrealistic demands on others, and you get upset if things don't work out the way you wanted.

Here is the truth that you must accept:
If you choose to enter in by the strait gate, you have to give up this sense of entitlement, and take up self-denial instead.
Are you willing to do that? I hope we all are.

Many still prefer to walk on the Broad Way. Why is this so?
One reason is that there is a great multitude of people there!
Some people tend to go along with the trends of the world without carefully considering whether they are right or not, because they think, "There's safety in numbers. Surely so many people can't be wrong at the same time."

On social media they would look for the choice that has the most number of 'likes'.
How wrong it is to use this as a criterion to make important choices in life.
But that's what most people do - they simply follow the crowd. They have a 'herd mentality' which conforms blindly to what everyone else is doing.

There is something really special and comforting about the Narrow way.
Do you know what it is?
It is the fact that we do not walk on it alone, since Jesus Himself accompanies us there throughout the entire journey.

And traveling in the company of Jesus is definitely better than traveling with vast multitudes who have no clear direction.

Whenever we choose a road to travel, the overriding consideration which is more important than its surface, its width, the comfort of the inns alongside it, the scenic beauty of its surroundings -is where it will ultimately lead us to.
A rough road that leads to life is infinitely better than a smooth and easy road that leads to destruction.

Do you know why most people fail to live by this principle, and choose the road which leads to destruction instead of life?
One reason is that they live only for short-term gains. They keep looking for instant gratification.

It is of greatest importance for you not to have short-sighted vision, but long-sighted vision! We really have no excuse if we do not do this, because God has already given us His Word to show us the bright distant future that lies ahead.
Look far into the distance for the right destination. And when you have found it, set the course of your life resolutely to reach that destination.

May the Lord help all of us here to keep pressing toward the mark in our present journey on the road less travelled.

Bible references avaiable, on request

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