Imagine that you and I are in a rental car. We’re cruising down I95 in heavy traffic, heading to the Newark Airport. We’re eager to check in early because we both have some emails we need to respond to.
The batteries in both of our phones show red, and we didn’t spring for a car with built-in GPS. So, we’re navigating the old-fashioned way; we’re reading the Interstate signs. While you’re driving, I’m searching for an airport sign. We know we’re near because we see commercial flights taking off.
We see an exit for Highway 9, but we can’t make the exit. Now we are worrying. We see a convoluted mess of exits and roads that we think would put us on the Eastern Spur toll road. Perhaps that will loop us back to Highway 9. We decide at the last minute to keep driving and hope there’s another exit for the airport. Then we see a sign for Highway 9, but there’s a concrete separator between us and Highway 9!
So somehow, we end up on a city street named McClellan. It’s narrow, old, and doesn’t look anything like an entrance to the airport. But we continue on.
We see a cemetery on our right. Perhaps these are pilgrims that began this journey, but they never found the gate because their doubt blinded them.
Finally, we came upon a street sign showing Highway 9, North and South. But, of course, there’s no sign for the airport, and we don’t know if we’re north or south of the airport.
We decide to continue our commitment to McClellan and soon find ourselves on an overpass carrying us across the knot of Internet Highways. And then, off to our right, we see the airport’s control tower and a sign for terminals!
Suddenly, we find ourselves back on a highway heading towards the airport! Soon, we see a sign for the airport! And finally, we arrive.
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Matthew 7:13-14
Presenting a rosy picture of the Christian life and minimizing that it is filled with trouble does not follow the lead of our Lord (Acts 14:22). It may be that the “false prophets” of v. 15 are especially those who deny that the way is narrow and hard.
R.C. Sproul
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