Matthew 7:13-14

On a wide six-lane freeway, it is easy to crowd lots of cars onto the road. Entering the highway is pretty easy since ramps feed into the right lane every few miles. Conversely, trying to stay on a narrow sheep path from the pasture to the barn forces you to walk slowly with one foot directly in front of the other. The sheep path is a picture of the narrow way—God’s way—while the wide, six-lane thoroughfare illustrates the broad way—that is, Satan’s road to destruction.

The broad way is as crowded as an expressway at rush hour. The majority of people choose this road because they love what it has to offer: no restraints on anything they want to try. Whatever brings pleasure, power, or prosperity is welcomed and practiced. God, the Bible, and church may be tolerated for a while but will eventually be supplanted in the heart of the traveler on the broad road. That’s to be expected, since everything is embraced here—all philosophies, all belief systems, all the passions of men and women, and all habits promoting the idea of free choice.

As wonderful as all that tolerance and license may sound, however, the broad road is also the way of disappointment. No matter what the world promises, it will not ultimately satisfy, because the broad way is an illusion. The flesh may be appeased temporarily, but the human heart cannot find peace on that road. Nothing the world thinks up or creates can fill the place in our hearts that God made only for Himself. True fulfillment through the Lord is found only on the narrow path. Tomorrow we will see what is required to walk there.