It’s too stuffy….
Luke 13:24"Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
As a little boy my son who has heard about heaven and hell and how ‘only’ Jesus is the way to Heaven would ask me each time he saw a huge group of non-Christians, ‘would they go to heaven or hell?’ While at any public place or a huge gathering of pilgrims, he would never fail to ask me this question, ‘would they all go to heaven or hell?’ Very difficult question indeed! The answer has to be simple and not rude; yet at the same time, the truth should not be sabotaged. I would wisely tell him ‘this is why we should aggressively preach about Jesus so that the rest of them don’t go to hell.’ There would be silence after that – on both ends. Our hearts would be silently beating fast for the lost in the world! Do you have this burden for the people lost in sin, greed, gambling, lusting, corruption, adultery, alcohol and much more? Cricketer Sreesanth’s exposure of bribe should only make us pray harder and strive to inculcate good values in our kids rather than curse, ‘serves them good for all their wickedness.’
From today for the next ten days we are conducting ‘Kids summer camp’ at our Shiloh Revival Church and our theme is ‘beautiful butterfly’ where we tell every day how they got to get transformed from a worm to a butterfly - Alas, many of us are still slimy caterpillars, content with crawling on the ground, rather than flap the wings and fly like a butterfly! Anybody listening? Mathew Henry explained: “The reason why many come short of grace and glory is because they rest in a lazy seeking of that which will not be attained without a laborious striving.”
Many cry, ‘it’s too stuffy, tough and hard, I cant take the narrow route…!’ The thought that a colossal crowd would take the broad way and very few would enter the narrow gate, made me pause and cry bitterly, even today I have heard a bad news about one particular family who had backslidden even after several years of my painful guidance. Many people come out of idol worship, take water baptism and attend church but sadly are unable to firmly stand for Jesus during times of storm. They easily slide back to the old ways. Jesus clearly explained, ‘they would try to get through the narrow gate’ but will not be able because they are not fiercely serious and do ‘all it takes’ to come through victoriously. Anybody listening? You want to know the reason? The Bible says: “….desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Mark 4:19) Observe the words ‘desire for other things!
Many, many are aware of the unrighteousness in their life in the form of: pirated software, fake certificates, bribe, corruption, indiscriminate debts, lavish spending, yoking with non-believers and lots more; yet, they do not lift their little finger about it because it would cause pain and loss. DIRTY GUTTER IS BETTER THAN GETTING BETTER!
A couple living together without marriage do not want to stretch and get married; yet they dutifully attend church. A woman living an adulterous life with a married man continues to daringly take holy communion. Many may go to church but alas only a few, very few, who strive hard to follow Jesus and His commandments would make it to heaven!
