The narrow gate

In my lifetime of 22 years, I have come to learn that the things that are most important and meaningful are the most difficult to achieve. I think about the successful basketball teams that I have played on throughout high school and in college. To have the success we were able to accomplish we had to go through hell. We had to trust the process every day.

Trusting the process was something that I really didn't learn until I got to college. As a college basketball player, every single day was a part of the process. Whether it was conditioning in August, a two-a-day in December, or a shoot around on a Saturday afternoon. If we didn't do those things with a high level of focus and energy we weren't going to succeed.

Our goal every single season was to hang a red national championship banner. We weren't fortunate enough to do that, but each year we put our self in a great position by earning a spot in the NAIA National Tournament.

I want you to take a look at this scripture that I read over today...

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road the 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." (Matthew 7:13-14)

With Jesus saying that, there are a couple things that come to mind. I think about how hard it was to earn our spot in the National Tournament. It was hard and tiring work, but what made it easier was everyone collectively trusting the process. We knew that if we gave everything we had and some more in all that we did we were going to be able to put ourselves in a great spot.

I want you to focus on what made it easier. What made it easier was understanding the work that we had to put in. When I think about entering through the narrow gate, I fully believe that it will be easier to enter through the narrow gate when you accept the challenge and commit to trusting the process. It's all about the mindset that you want to have and the things you will do to accomplish something worth it.

I believe that we make it too difficult on ourselves based off distractions. Wide is the gate that leads to distraction because we are distracted by so many things! We overcomplicate so many things based on what we treasure, our interests, and what the world wants.

When I think about overcomplicating things, an example comes to mind that just happened to me this past weekend...I was at my girlfriend's house with her family and I was sitting at their dinning room table studying. Their dog, Lilly is the sweetest dog ever and I could tell that she needed to be let out to relieve herself...aka use the restroom. In their neighborhood there was a wedding going on and I was instructed that if she needed to be let out that she had to wear a collar so she doesn't go wedding crashing...and I guess Lilly's best friend was over at the wedding as well. I had no idea where the collars were at so I went out into the garage, I made sure the garage door was closed and I begin to look for collars. I dug all over the place and had to untangle a couple of them and when I looked up, I saw Lilly's rear end walking out of the doggy door. Of course they had a doggy door I thought to myself! I quickly opened the human sized door and ran after her because I was not about to crash the wedding with her....long story short, I chased her all over the yard until I was able to make her go back inside the house. Luckily, Lilly is nearly an elderly dog so I was faster than she was.

How does this relate? In the story I just enlightened you with. Picture Lilly being our hearts when they treasure the right things, and myself being our minds. Lilly had one goal in mind. All she needed to do was walk out her little doggy door, stroll to her favorite spot in the yard and relieve herself. When our hearts have Jesus as number 1, the narrow gate should be something that we are so set on that we just do it. Sure it will be hard, because nothing worth it is ever easy. But when our hearts are in the right place, we make things easier by taking action. How I acted was like our minds do everyday. I didn't even look to see if there was a doggy door. I found multiple leashes but didn't know which one would work best. How often do we not observe what is around us, and how often do we become distracted by so many things that we forget what is easy. We forget the mission at hand because we just seem to make everything so complicated.

My prayer for you and encouragement to you is that if your heart is in the right place, and you are treasuring the right things. Get after it! Pursue righteousness. Set your mind on the mission at hand and do it.

On the other hand, if your heart isn't in the right place yet and you're in a spot in your life where it's easy to go with the flow, I encourage you to pray and being to prioritize things in your life. Look at what is horning to God and what isn't. When you come up with a list of things that is honoring to God, expand that list and keep doing those things.

The narrow gate can be easy...