Caution: Road Narrows Ahead

<sup>You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate.  The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.  But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.
Matthew 7:13-14, New Living Translation

I have been accused of being too "closed minded".  I was told I need to open my mind to be more accepting of other viewpoints and methods of spiritual nourishment.  Seems like, as far as society is concerned, the road to Heaven gets more and more broad as we get more and more enlightened. 

Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, the Life.  No man comes to the Father, but by Me".  I am so glad those words were recorded.  Otherwise, we might question if there are different paths to the Father.

I recently saw Valerie Bertinelli on an interview show.  She referred often to how many bad things she had done in her 20's.  And now, in her 50's, she is striving to be "a really good person" to make up for those bad things so that she can go to Heaven.  Can you imagine depending on yourself for eternal life? 

Jesus paved the road to the Father.  The verse above mentions this road being difficult.  Don't confuse this with unpleasant or a life with no fun.  Rather, picture salmon, swimming upstream, doing what they must to procreate and continue the life cycle.  Is it easy to swim upstream? No.  Would it be easier to go with the current? Yes.  But going with the flow is not what the salmon was destined to do.  It must take the path of greatest resistance and in so doing, it finds life and purpose.  Our path is difficult due to the pressures of living in the world, but stay on the narrow path, we must. 

If you have also been labeled "closed minded", be glad that you are on the narrow road, the only road that leads to Heaven.</sup>