THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Matthew 7:13-14

“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.”

This passage was harder for us to understand in the US.  Maybe you could make a connection to hiking – hiking a wide, well worn path is much easier than one that you have to make a path for yourself.

Coming to West Africa has given us a much clearer picture of this phrase in the Bible.  In Cote d’Ivoire, there was one main road that headed north and south and EVERYONE used that road.  To try to find other ways around was dangerous and took much longer to navigate.  You had to seek out the right direction, pay careful attention to which way your headed, the potholes, and also thieves that wanted to take advantage of you being on a back road on your own.

The same with many of the streets.  As you can see in the picture, most roads are worn down by overloaded trucks and the water from rainy season.  For most roads, you can see the path that the motorcycles use and the part of the road that is not used because it’s too rough.  Everyone (both directions) follows the same path and if you don’t, it hurts.  It hurts the motorcycle and your bum. 

Many times driving down bumpy back roads or unfortunately choosing the “path less traveled” on these back roads, I’ve thought of the Christian walk.  It’s easier to chose the smooth path that most people travel on.  If you try for the other path, it hurts sometimes, you have to pay much more attention, and have to realize that people are going to look at you and laugh a little (really only white people would choose staying on the correct side of the road over a smooth path).  You also have to search hard to see where the path goes, unlike the smooth road that you can really just follow without thinking. 

I feel like Jesus is saying a hard truth about the Christian walk when he talks about the “broad road” and the “narrow road.”  He’s giving us the reality that it’s not going to be easy, there will be some bumps and bruises.  We’re probably going to lose traction and get off track sometimes, it will be hard to find our way back, and it will probably hurt, but  He says it’s an important road – the road that “leads to life.”