The Struggle

In his sermon on the mount, Jesus told us to,

“Go in through the narrow gate, because broad and spacious is the road leading off to destruction, and many are the ones going in through it, whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road leading off into life, and few are the ones finding it.”  (Mt 7:13-14 NWT)

Some time later, he was asked,

“Are the ones being saved few?” to which He replied, “Struggle to get in through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will seek to get in but will not be able.”  (Lk 13:24)

So, what is this narrow gate or door that leads to life?  Paul points us in the right direction at Ro 6:23 where he writes, “… the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.”  But Jesus Himself makes it very clear when He says, “I assure you, I am the door of the sheep.”  (Jn 10:7) and “I am the door.  If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture.”  As well, “I have come that they may have life, and have it in abundance.”  Jn 10:9-10

A brief summary of what we’ve learned so far might read, “We must struggle to go through Jesus to gain everlasting life, or life in abundance.”

Did you notice that we don’t go to Jesus, but rather, we go through Him?  And He clarifies that for us at Jn 14:6, where He tells His disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father, except through me.”  Paul put it this way at 1 Ti m2:5-6: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and humanity, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave Himself a ransom for all.”  That ransom is what allows us to come to the source of life, God, with a clear conscience, as is brought out at He 10:22.  The reason that’s important is because we won’t allow ourselves to accept all of God’s gracious gifts, including life everlasting, if we are feeling guilty or ashamed.

This is one of the areas with which we struggle, maintaining a clean conscience.  How quickly after we’re  aware that we’ve sinned, are we able to regain a clean conscience, remembering that we’ve been declared righteous?  As it says at Tit 3:7 (DRB/YLT) “That, being justified/declared righteous by His grace, we may be heirs according to the hope of life everlasting.”

Another area of struggle could be learning to “Keep (y)our eyes fixed on the author and perfecter of our faith…”  (He 12:2 LEB, GNB, GW)  We are often easily distracted by circumstances and can easily forget that we must rely on God’s spirit, the spirit we see in Jesus.  Once we catch ourselves relying on ourselves, then it may take quite a bit of effort to work through the fear of letting our Shepherd handle the situation through us.

A third facet of our Christian walk in which we will undoubtedly struggle, especially in the beginning of our walk with Him, is learning to hear our Shepherd’s voice.  At Jn 10:11 He tells us, “I am the good shepherd.”  And speaking about Himself, He says at Jn 10:4, “When He has brought them out, He goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow Him, because they know His voice.”  Without a teacher, it can take many years to recognize the many ways in which our Shepherd talks with us.  Even with a good teacher, there is a steep learning curve while we learn to ignore the voice of our own desires, and to follow His voice instead.

That brings us to our greatest struggle as described by Paul at Eph 4:22-24 (ESV) – “…put off your old self/man, which belongs to your former manner of life, and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”  It will take a lot of work to get to the point when we can declare as Paul did, “I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I (the old self) that live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Gal 2:20 KJV

Summarizing our struggles – We need to train

our eyes – He 12:2

our ears – Jn 10:4

our minds – Eph 4:22

and our hearts Gal 2:20  until

we abide in Jesus, and He is us – Jn 15:4

There is also a struggle with “the ruler/god of this world”.  But that’s a subject for another article, and our Shepherd will actually handle much of that struggle as we become proficient at following our Shepherd’s voice.  That’s because, as Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”  Phil 4:13