The Way That Is Difficult

Reflection

You know, I really missed this one over the years. I have read these verses many times, but somehow I don't think I really stopped to consider what Jesus was saying. Perhaps that happens with familiar Scriptures. We know the words so well that we can move past them without really seeing what they are telling us.

The Christian life is not necessarily the easier life—it is the life-giving life.

One of the overarching messages we often hear in Christianity is, "Believe in Christ and you will be happier. Your troubles will be less. Your life will become better." While there is certainly joy, peace, hope, and blessing found in knowing Christ, these two verses don't exactly paint a picture of an easy road. In fact, the imagery Jesus uses is almost frightening because He tells us there are two gates and two ways. One gate is wide, and the way beyond it is broad. The other gate is strait, and the way is narrow. One leads to destruction, while the other leads to life.

Think about a gate for a moment. Most gates have limitations because there is only so much room for people to pass through at one time. Some gates are large enough for many people to enter together, while others are much smaller and allow only a few through at a time. Usually, a gate isn't simply standing in the middle of an open field with nothing around it. It is part of a fence or a wall that limits where you can go, and there is a reason you have to enter through the gate. Jesus is showing us that there are not endless paths leading to the same destination. There is a particular way that leads to life, and there is a particular entrance through which we must enter.

But something else in these verses caught my attention. The word "strait" and the word "narrow" are doing two different things. When we hear the word narrow, we naturally think about size, so we picture something that isn't wide. But Jesus uses "strait" to describe the restricted entrance, while "narrow" speaks of the difficulty of the way. In other words, Jesus isn't merely telling us that the road is small. He is telling us it is difficult. And somehow, I had missed that.

Understanding the Difficulty

Following Christ is not presented here as a life where everything suddenly becomes easy. Jesus doesn't promise that believing in Him will remove every difficulty, every hardship, every disappointment, or every temptation. He tells us that the way that leads to life is a difficult way, and that challenges some of the ways we can think about Christianity. If we believe that following Jesus should always make our circumstances easier, what do we do when life becomes harder after we begin following Him? If we think faith should remove trouble, how do we understand the seasons when obedience actually costs us something?

Jesus has already answered that question. The Christian life is not necessarily the easier life. It is the life-giving life, and there is a tremendous difference. Sometimes following Christ means saying no when everyone else is saying yes. Sometimes it means forgiving when our flesh wants revenge. Sometimes it means holding our tongue when we could easily win an argument. Sometimes it means walking away from something that everyone else considers perfectly acceptable because we know it isn't pleasing to God. Sometimes the narrow way simply means refusing to follow the crowd.

Who Is Leading You?

And that may be one of the most difficult parts of it. Jesus says that the broad way has many people traveling on it, and that shouldn't surprise us. The broad way has room for whatever we want to carry with us. We can bring our pride, our desires, our opinions, our excuses, and our own definitions of right and wrong. The narrow way doesn't give us that same freedom because it requires us to follow Jesus.

And that is where this becomes much more than a lesson about avoiding the wrong road. It becomes a question of who is leading us. Jesus doesn't simply say, "Find a difficult road and take it." He says to enter through the gate and walk the way that leads to life. The Christian life isn't about choosing suffering for the sake of suffering. It is about following Christ, even when following Him is difficult.

There is comfort in that for me because sometimes when life is hard, I can wonder if something has gone wrong. I can think that perhaps if I had more faith, things would be easier. But Jesus never told me that difficulty meant I was on the wrong road. Sometimes the difficulty is part of walking the right one.

The apostles understood this. Paul and Barnabas encouraged believers that "we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." They didn't hide the difficulty from new believers or promise them that following Christ would make every circumstance easier. They prepared them for the reality that faithfulness to Christ could involve hardship. That is a very different message from simply telling people that Christianity will make their lives easier. Christ gives us something far greater than an easy life. He gives us life, and that life is worth following Him through the narrow places.

Don't measure the value of the road by how comfortable it is—
measure it by where it leads.

Before You Go

There is something sobering about these words of Jesus, but there is also something deeply hopeful. He didn't leave us guessing about the destination of the two ways. One leads to destruction, while the other leads to life, and the invitation is still there: "Enter ye in at the strait gate." The good news is not that Jesus came to make every road comfortable. The good news is that He came to bring us to God. He is not merely offering us a better version of the life we already have. Through His death and resurrection, He offers us forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and eternal life.

So when the Christian life becomes difficult, don't automatically assume that something has gone wrong. You may simply be walking through one of those narrow places Jesus already told us to expect. There will be times when following Him costs us something, times when obedience requires us to deny ourselves, and times when the world around us seems to be traveling comfortably along the broad road while we wonder why our own way feels so difficult.

The Destination Is Worth Everything

But don't measure the value of the road by how comfortable it is. Measure it by where it leads. The broad way may appear easier, and it may have more people on it. It may allow us to carry whatever we want and follow whatever feels right at the moment, but Jesus tells us where that road ultimately leads. The narrow way may be difficult, but it leads to life.

And we don't walk it alone. Jesus has gone before us, and He knows what it means to suffer, to be rejected, to be misunderstood, and to remain obedient when obedience is costly. He doesn't ask us to walk a road He has never traveled Himself. He calls us to follow Him, and He gives us the grace to continue when the way becomes difficult.

So if today feels difficult, don't assume that difficulty means God has left you or that your faith isn't working. Sometimes the difficult road is the very road Jesus told us to expect. Keep following Him, keep choosing obedience, and keep trusting Him even when you cannot see what lies ahead. The way may be narrow, and the journey may be difficult, but the destination is worth everything because it leads to life.