Drift or Decide | Part II
“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.”
Do you recognize the power of every decision you make?
Decisions have a major impact on everything. In part I of this devotional we concluded with the idea that the decisions we make determine the direction we go, and the direction we go determines our destiny.
There’s a story of a group of Soviet engineers who were working on a drilling rig and accidentally discovered a sinkhole. All their equipment, machines, everything fell into the new hole. Initial attempts to recover the expensive machinery were met with failure. Why? Because they discovered the hole was filled with toxic gases. They took some time and brainstormed a solution. Instead of going and finding the right safety gear, they made a decision. They decided to set the gases on fire, thinking that once the flames burned out, they would be able to go in safely and recover the equipment. The result? It's been around 50 years and that crater is still on fire. It's known as the Darvaza Crater.
All of that happened because a group of people made a small decision, to light a match and see what happened.
Your decisions can and will have a major impact on your life and the lives of those around you. Your decisions will impact your spouse. Your decisions will impact your kids. Your decisions will impact your family and friends and your professors. Your decisions will impact yourself and everyone around you.
Most importantly your decisions will impact your relationship with God. So what are some powerful, God-honoring decisions we can make?
DECIDE TO DECIDE
Look what Jesus says in the first part of Matthew 7:13,
“Enter through the narrow gate…”
What’s he saying? You have a decision to make and it’s not a decision anyone can make for you. This would have shocked the prevailing culture of the 1st-century Jewish listener. To the Jewish mindset, you were born into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus then shows up and rebukes this idea. Your pastor can't enter for you, your friend can’t enter for you, your parents can’t enter it for you, only you can make the decision. You are not born into the narrow gate. Only you can choose to take a narrow gate.
You enter through the gate, only you can make the decision. Every one of us must decide to decide.
DON’T DRIFT
“…For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.”
I’ve written before about how I am a terrible gardener. Truly awful. I call my house hospice for plants. I remember at one point realizing I needed to clean up my yard and so I started tearing up every weed I could find. I spent two whole days going over my backyard with a fine-toothed comb just to make sure I had truly gotten every weed. Once I was sure I had removed all the weeds, I left my yard alone. For weeks.
What do you think happened?
Right. All the weeds came back.
Why? Because my yard naturally produces weeds. You don’t need to try and cultivate them. That’s why they’re weeds. The same is true for you and me. The Bible tells us that we have a sinful nature and that we are enemies of God. Left to our own devices, we destroy ourselves. We drift our way onto the broad path and into destruction. God, in his great love, actually intervenes and provides a different option for us to decide. We can decide not to drift now!
DECIDE DAILY
“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.“
God gives us his Holy Spirit, who is the advocate, the ultimate gardener of our souls! He is the one who teaches us. This is the comfort and safety we are offered. Recently my wife and I celebrated seven years of marriage. It has been incredible and difficult! If I want the next seven years of marriage to be even stronger I need to decide daily to say “I Do”. Too many married couples I know have fallen into the trap of saying “I Do” only once. Healthy relationships are about making that decision, that decision of love, submission, honor, and commitment, not just once, but daily.
My hope for us over all this is that we would decide to listen to the voice of God and decide to do the will of God. He loves you and cares for you, and he wants you to decide to follow him.
