For
Starters, Life Is Difficult
Sermon on the Mount, Part 4
Today's Three-minute Bible Study
Print, Study and Apply
Title:
For Starters, Life Is Difficult (Sermon on the Mount, Part 4)---- Date: 1/14/2000
Keywords:
"life"
"destruction"
Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand
strong in the face of sexual temptation.
Passage: Matthew 7:13-14*
13. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and
broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
14. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life,
and only a few find it"
Questions
1. Based on this passage, should we expect an easy or difficult
battle against sin?
2. How should we respond to this truth?
Practical help
For a variety of reasons -- including temperament, teaching and
theology -- many Christians hold that a victorious spiritual life should be a walk in the
park. While Jesus' agony in the garden should cure us of such illusions, they still
persist.
This passage throws more weight on the side of the difficulty of
aligning our lives with Christ. The means and the method of spiritual transportation are
constrained. Those who disagree may number in the multitudes headed for destruction. As
one sage has put it, "Life is difficult."
Still, this fact should not discourage us. It should rather help us
recalibrate our expectations. In our struggles against pornography -- and every other
temptation -- we're in for a long haul. Recognize that, and you're halfway down the road
... and past the gate.
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*Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version © Copyright 1973,
1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.