8/14/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 2. 5-6)

“I direct you [if your desire is to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven], ‘Go in through the strait gate because wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way that is leading to destruction, and many are those going in through it [and many are those who will be destroyed by it.] By comparison, how strait [is] the gate, and how compressed [is] the way that is leading to life, and [sadly] few are those who are finding it!‘” (Matthew 7.13-14)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

The window of opportunity. Read that sentence until you default to its singularity of thought. How is it different from what many people say or want you to believe they are saying? Very different? Somewhat different? A little different? Not different at all? Or do you not know what I am alluding to? Yes, the pundits of the modern era love to promote “windows of opportunities.” They declare there are many ways to achieve the same goal. There are, as they claim, many doors to knock on that will be opened to you. Of course, if you take that “sales” premise as your paradigm, you will find that the average is one open door per one thousand knocked upon. Good odds? Decent odds? So what does this have to do with our reflection upon God’s Word declaring “strait is the door and narrow is the hallway which leads to life; few will find it”? Or, in following yesterday’s reflection definition of strait as “a narrow channel” between two bodies of water we could interpret Jesus’ teaching as “strait is the lock and narrow is its passage which leads to life.” For those who grew up on rivers with a series of “locks and dams,” you would get that interpretation without blinking. The Upper Mississippi River, for example has 29 locks and dams. I lived for two and a half years in Canton, Missouri, home of Lock and Dam #20. I have visited the one in Keokuk, Iowa, which provides a drop of 38 feet. They are a marvel of engineering allowing a string of barges to be moved from one level to another at the same time. It is a straight line through requiring a strait handling of the tug and barges. If you think about it, the passage of the Egyptian exiles through the Red Sea (or Reed Sea) was like a lock and dam in reverse. Instead of a passage from one body of water to another, it was a passage from one land mass to another. But, regardless, there was only one way through; one “window of opportunity” or door or gate or lock. Even Pharaoh and his army knew that options were limited in that given situation. Any other suitable crossing (narrower, shallower, drier) was too removed for an instant pursuit of their prey, the Hebrew people.

Mighty ones of God, we are taught to see there is only one “window, door, gate” of opportunity to live life to the fullest which leads to the fulfillment of life which comes in Heaven. Stop and hear the ownership of identity when Jesus speaks to Pilate, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” There is only one way, one path, one course which leads us from point B to point A; from earth to Heaven. And Jesus knew full well the path Himself because He had come from point A to point B. Listen as Nicodemus wrestles with this concept as Jesus tells him “You must be born again in order to see [enter] the Kingdom of Heaven.” Nicodemus immediately stops in his thinking track and wonders “How can I enter my mother’s womb as second time?” Preposterous, right? But, the image is clear. In order for us to enter into the world, we are intended to pass through the birth canal. It doesn’t always happen that way because nature has been altered by a “sin-fection” causing some births to be by cesarean section. Thank God for medical “breakthroughs” or many would not be born. [If not for some spiritual “breakthroughs,” many more will not be born.] Of course, this is not what Jesus was calling Nicodemus to consider. Even Jesus knew it was impossible to reverse the process and be born again into the world. As much as we would consider “do overs,” that is not an option. What we want is to be born into the Kingdom of Heaven and into a world without all the hardships we face in this one. Little wonder that Jesus would remind all His listeners that “My Kingdom is not of this world.” It is that Kingdom which He came to lead the lost back to. And there is only “one way” home.

There are many gods, many teachers, many philosophies, many journeys, many ideas, many religions and denominations and sects. But, there is only one narrow and defined passage which leads to the life we truly desire. Regardless of what our hopes and dreams are for us in this world, they are but mere reflections of what we truly hope and dream for. Even if one cannot conceive of Heaven (or Hell), that ultimate reality which draws our life’s decision-making journey forward is “not of this world.” No matter how much we think or believe we can make “of this world” a better place, it is not a possibility. There was only “one window,” one gate of opportunity for “that world” to be “this world.” That gate is closed forever with a very convincing angel standing at the threshold. Even Jesus would not dare approach and knock. Oh, not because He is afraid of the Angel; even the angel answers to Jesus. But, Jesus knows that it would serve no good purpose to go back to Eden when Heaven is the true kingdom and true goal for all of life. Well, that is the case for those who understand there is only “one gate and one way and both are strait.” For the rest who believe there are many and more there is that valley full of snakes whose venomous bite leads only to death and an eternal unrest in the “valley of the shadow of death.”

Let’s look at that tomorrow with another “strait” teaching centered on John 3.14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so too, must the Son of Man be lifted up.” Until then, shalom.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD:

Father, You have revealed Yourself to us best in Jesus the Christ. By Him and Him alone shall we gain the eternal life and our place in eternal rest, living for You always. Show us more and by Your Holy Spirit instruct us in the way we should go, the truth we should reveal and the life we shall live with you forever. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.