Monday 3 March 2014

A Narrow Gate

“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.” 
         Matthew 7:13,14
The one belief that separates Christians from all other faiths is the claim that they are the only way to heaven.
Here Jesus says that “small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
People all over the world today are looking for the truth. They are honestly looking for the way to heaven.
Almost all religions in the world say you have to be good. Being good is a good thing.
But most religions of the world also say that your good deeds must out weigh your bad deeds in order to enter heaven or reach a plain of ultimate enlightenment.
Christianity does not say that.
Jesus makes the following statements,
"Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." 
                                           John 14:6
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  
          Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” 
                             John 3:16-18
These statements make it clear that it is only through Jesus that we can enter heaven and obtain eternal life.
The apostle Paul writing to the Ephesians makes it clear,
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.” 
                                                                                                   Ephesians 2:8,9
The writer of Hebrews noting,
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” 
                            Hebrews 11:6.
We can never be good enough to enter into heaven. We are imperfect vessels. We all at one time or another in our daily walk fall far short of what God wants for our life. We sin.
Sin is simply falling short of what God wants for our life.
John states,
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” 
                          1 John 1:9,10.
Christianity simply states that in order to get into heaven we must first of all believe that Jesus is the one and only Son of God.
That we should confess our sins to Him that he may forgive our sins.
Then we are asked to do our best to live up to the ideals of Christ. knowing that if we do make a mistake if we do sin we can still go back to Him confess it and be forgiven.
Think about it.

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