“You must immediately enter through the narrow gate: because wide is the gate and broad is the way leading into destruction and many are those who enter through it: how narrow the gate is , and the way that leads to life is constricted, and few are those who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14 ONM)
A little while ago the Lord spoke to me and told me that His people were taking away the narrowness of His way. They have taken My word and made it a conformity to their way of life and not for a transformation of life to My way. (“My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that go out of My lips” Psalms 89:34)
The bible says if any man be in Christ, old things pass away and all things become new. Now where before or after that passage does it state the newness will start tomorrow or a year from that date of acceptance? It is an immediate transformation. It is even the same on a natural level. When that baby comes out of the womb in birth, it becomes your baby right away. You don’t tell the medical staff that the baby you just birthed will be determined later whether it is yours. Once we accept Christ as Lord and Saviour our new birth starts right away at that moment (2 Corinthians 5:17). Of course just like that newborn, who has to be nurtured, and fed milk to help it grow, so it is the same way as newborn babies in Christ. The bible tells us to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord (2 Peter 3:18). Peter also tells us as newborn babies to desire the sincere milk of the word (1 Peter 2:2). If we start to get thirsty and hungry for any other type of formula than the milk from the Word of God, our growth gets stunted. When we try to make His Word taste like Kool-Aid or juice with a lot of sugar, it would have the same effects as it would in a newborn baby. We would become sick and began vomiting even the things that are nutritional for us. Because we have added sugar and other things that haven’t any nutritional value, there would not be anything instrumental in it to help the growth process.
Some people are now saying that we are under grace and God loves us regardless of whether you are obeying His commandments, you are still covered under this grace. Yes, that is true that His word says He loves us and not because we first loved Him (1John 4:19). We show our love to God by obeying Him and keeping His commandments (“If you love Me you will keep my commandments” John 15:14). We don’t prostitute His grace by doing what we want to do against His will because of His merciful grace. “Our wrong doings pile up before you, God, our sins stand up and accuse us. Our wrongdoings stare us down; we know in detail what we’ve done: Mocking and denying God, not following our God, spreading false rumors, inciting seditions, pregnant with lies, muttering malice. Justice is beaten back, righteousness is banished to the sidelines, Truth staggers down the street, Honesty is nowhere to be found, Good is missing in action. Anyone renouncing evil is beaten and robbed” (Isaiah 59:14-15 MSG). We have to make sure this is not part of our testimony. We have to take inventory of our life’s pathway and make sure that we are still on the straight and narrow. We need to make sure that we are living and thanking the Lord for his loving kindness and tender mercies. There is an expression people say, “it’s tight but it’s right,” we can apply that to the Word of God. The bible says there will be a time when people will call evil good and good evil. “Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). We are starting to see this behavior creeping into the church. We are starting to hear rationalization of His Word with this new “gospel of grace.”
Rationalization: (Oxford Dictionary)
- the action of attempting to explain or justify behavior or an attitude with logical reasons, even if these are not appropriate:
- the process of converting a function or expression to a rational form.
- the action of reorganizing a process or system so as to make it more logical and consistent:
- (Webster Dictionary):
- the act, process, or result of rationalizing; especially : the provision of plausible reasons to explain to oneself or others behavior for which one’s real motives are different and unknown or unconscious
Let’s make sure that we are still walking through the straight gate. The Word of God tells us He never changes (James 1:17). The Word of God also lets us know that His Word never changes nor should we change it (Proverbs 30:5-6). The Lord will not compromise or change His values, so neither should we. Even as the music in some churches start to change with lyrics justifying behavior and sometimes faith that is not of God, songs such as; “Amazing Grace,” “There is Room At the Cross,” “Are You Washed in the Blood,” “At the Cross,” “Because He Lives,” “Glory to His Name,” “There is Power in the Blood,” “Holy, Holy, Holy,” still continues to be sung from the hearts of men and woman walking the narrow road leading to life.
