This post is for brothers and sisters who are pressing ahead in their faith journeys, but feel weary and tired. Scriptural passages from Berean Standard Bible. Images created specifically for this post using Night Cafe Studio and Canva Pro.
The Invitation to Seek & Follow:
God invites us to seek Him in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)
Matthew 7:7-8
7Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Jesus made it clear: the path to eternal life is open to everyone who asks.
However, the gate to heaven is “narrow” in the sense of having a particular requirement for entrance—faith in Jesus Christ.
Salvation is found only in the Person of Jesus Christ; He is the only way (John 14:6). The “wide” gate is non-exclusive; it allows for human effort and all other of the world’s religions.
Got Questions “Why did God make salvation such a narrow path?” accessed 1/10/24
God call us each to the narrow, hard path that leads away from self, the world, comfort to follow Him. Jesus instructs us to:
Matthew 7:13-14
13Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.
This path isn’t easy. One must walk on the path God lays out to become righteous.
We must come the way He has provided. We cannot create our own paths or come to a holy God based on our own efforts.
Ibid.
The image represents the young pilgrim who turns his back to the world’s call to follow His Savior and Lord’s call. He is weary, tired, and broken but he keeps moving toward the call.
This path will lead you through dark valleys and often you will feel alone. It’s a path that requires us to die to self and repent of our self-reliance/self-righteousness. There will be times when God will send you into a storm such as in Matthew Chapter 14.
Mercy in the Storms
https://www.gotquestions.org/narrow-path.html
Strength in Him who calls you forward
No matter the darkness or hopelessness around us, we find light, hope, courage, and strength to endure in His Living Word, presence of His Holy Spirit, and knowing that He is with us always until He returns or bring us home to Himself.
Jesus proclaims in Matthew 11:28-30
28Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
He calls the weary and lost to come to Him and find true, eternal life. Learn from Him–He is truly gentle and humble. Jesus is about relationship, restoration, renewal, and eternal life!
In the Arms of the Good Shepherd
One of my favorite passages of scripture is found in John 10. Consider the Good Shepherd
7So He said to them again, “Truly, truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.
Jesus is our gate and He came to give us life and life in abundance. Jesus offers eternal life that begins when we trust in Him, accept His grace, and repent from walking astray.
11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock. 13The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep.
Jesus protects us. He goes before us to guide us into His fields of spiritual nourishment.
The Good Shepherd Stands guard with his trusty sheep dogs to protect His flock.
14I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me, 15just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them in as well, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd.
17The reason the Father loves Me is that I lay down My life in order to take it up again. 18No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.”
Be Gentle and Loving with others
Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4:1-3, 32
1As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received: 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
32Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
One of the greatest gifts God gives us is friends who walk this journey with us and those who share our sorrows and encourage us in our moments of darkness.
As God pours His grace and love into our lives, may this same grace and love flow through us onto those we encounter on this journey!
Ephesians 5:1-2
1Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,
2and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
Following God leads us into an eternity of light, peace, and fellowship with God Himself and those who have gone before us. Press ahead!
Words of Grace & Hope 