Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matt. 7:13-14
The grace I most often seek in my daily prayer is for Jesus to simply gather me to His presence—that He would bring my scattered self into focus and shepherd me to a place of unity with Himself. The idea of being gathered unto Jesus certainly resonates with the Lord’s teaching regarding the narrow path we are being drawn towards. He invites us to choose for ourselves this narrow way rather than the wide way we more often prefer.
We usually interpret this passage as primarily evangelistic, where Jesus is the Way to the Father, and wide is the way of those who refuse Him. But I believe these verses also apply to how we are to continue living as Christians in ever-growing proximity to our Lord, which comes from the narrowing of our focus. Like a river that gets stronger as it passes through a narrow channel, a more Christ-constrained focus will produce greater strength in our lives.
A funnel might be another illustration of the way Jesus shepherds us towards what is more beneficially narrow in life. Picture the funnel on its side, with its mouth representing the width and breadth of life, and the spout being the more narrow way. Where are you today in relationship to this funnel? Perhaps you are not even in the funnel, but wandering somewhere outside, not ready yet for the journey inwards (A). You’re in the general program of Christianity but you know that you are living life with much more latitude and self-determinacy than you suspect is consistent with your professed faith.
Growing maturity in faith helps us cooperate with this process of being shepherded more deeply into the funnel (B). There is a lessening desire in us for the wider latitudes we once enjoyed. We also have a better understanding of how to participate with this process. What are the forces that now encourage you towards the more narrow way (C)? What people, practices or disciplines help constrain you as you advance towards this self-simplifying path?
As the Way gets narrower it conforms you more and more in the direction of the funnel spout (D). It is the funnel that now defines your movements much more than your own self-determination. You find it both restricting and yet freeing as you recognize the hand of God more closely on your life than ever.
More and more your spiritual formation revolves around one simple question: how can I participate more fully with this action of being gathered by Jesus? How can I let myself be shepherded by Him towards the beauty of this narrow relationship? The answer to this question demands only one thing of you—a sustained willingness to let go of your wider agendas in favour of Jesus’ promise of a more abundant life.
In our most profound instincts, we all long for such narrowing of our lives—a simplification, a stilling, a silencing of all that spreads us out too thin. To allow Jesus each day to draw us deeper into His “funnel” is to truly live a spiritual life. His promise is that this one choice will lead us, like a river being forced through a narrow chasm, to greater strength and abundance in our lives.
Rob Des Cotes
Imago Dei Christian Communities
written for July 17th, 2014
FOR GROUP DISCUSSION
- Where do you presently find yourself in relationship to the funnel? Do you welcome this narrowing in your life, or are you afraid of what it might demand of you?
- As you have begun participating with this process what resources or responses of submission have you found helpful? What helps draw you more in the direction of the narrow way? What scatters you and moves you back towards the mouth of the funnel?
- What signs of new life have you begun to notice that you might attribute to the benefits of the narrow way Jesus is drawing you to?
FOR PRAYER: In your prayer, ask Jesus to gather you to Himself. Ask Him to help you yield more fully to this process. Allow the Lord to simplify your life so that you might conform more and more to the shape of His shepherding .