Good morning, Lord

50 Commandments of Jesus

19. Choose the Narrow Way—Matthew 7:13–14

The Narrow and Wide Gates

 “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.

Quote by C.S. Lewis, in The Screwtape Letters (a work of fiction written from the perspective of demonic tormentors and their plans and schemes to lead humans away from God):

“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,..."

Good morning, Lord, You are the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), if we follow You we know we will never go astray, but we tend to choose the uncompressed path, the easy way out, defaulting to natural human responses and tendencies. We know the narrow way is fraught with supernatural responses, obedience, prayer, and fruit, please help us choose wisely, we don't want to see where the broad road ends, nor do we want to lead others along that road, in any way. Please help us see when our path is broadening, please help us know when we have taken the wrong fork, in any and every choice and decision, we pray in Your name, Jesus, amen.

Narrow: 

Verse 13: 

Helps: 4728 stenós – properly, narrow; (figuratively) the closely-defined path God ordains to travel on to gain His approval (used three times in the NT).

Verse 14: 

The Interlinear Bible transliterates narrow in verse 14 as "compressed":

Strong's Concordance:

thlibó: to press, afflict

Original Word: θλίβω

Part of Speech: Verb

Transliteration: thlibó

Phonetic Spelling: (thlee'-bo)

Definition: (a) I make narrow (strictly: by pressure); I press upon, (b) I persecute, press hard.

Helps: 2346 thlíbō (the root of 2347 /thlípsis, reflecting an original "b"/bēta) – properly, rub together, constrict (compress), i.e. pressed together; (figuratively) oppressively afflict (distress), i.e. like when circumstances "rub us the wrong way" that make us feel confined (hemmed in); restricted to a "narrow" place. See 2347 (thlipsis).