GO WITH THE FLOW

It’s far easier to exit a stadium at the end of a big game than to enter it. It’s the same with a busy one way street. Go with the flow and life will be easier and safer. Christians are being trampled underfoot by Secular Humanism in the West and Islam in the East. Christians face ridicule and are even being martyred for the Faith! What else is new? Christians have always gone against the flow! Wouldn’t it be easier if we all just conformed to this world and went with the flow instead of against it? Jesus said to His audience, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and there are many who go by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13. Jesus was correcting the false teaching of the Pharisees when He said these words. They were leading the people of Israel to the destruction of Hellfire back in those days.

If, as the Bible clearly teaches, we are saved by grace alone through faith alone, then how come the way that leads to life is so hard? The short answer is that it is because it is far easier to go with the flow, but that way leads to destruction! The Pharisees were going with the flow and they wanted everyone else to go with them. However, according to Jesus, they were taking the easy way. He illustrated this when He said, ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God’ Matthew 19:24b. Can a camel fit through the eye of a needle? Only if you shred it and mince it! This was what the Pharisees had done to God’s way of salvation. They had replaced it with their own way. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death’ Proverbs 14:12.

God’s remedy for our sin is paradoxical. Every human being believes that whatever we have worked for deserves payment. This is the way of the world. This is even taught in the Bible: ‘The labourer is worthy of his wages’ Luke 10:7. The trouble is that this does not apply to salvation! Salvation never ever could be worked for! Working for salvation is akin to a camel trying to squeeze through the eye of a needle! It is impossible! ‘When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”’ Matthew 19:25-26. Entering by the narrow gate to the way that leads to life is difficult because, as human beings, we go with the flow, we labour for wages. Therefore, we work for the reward of salvation. But, ‘“My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD’ Isaiah 55:8.

What’s our way of salvation? Through the things we do. What’s God’s way of salvation? Through the things He has done. Surely this must mean that if God has done His bit then now I need to do my bit? No! That’s to go with the flow! It is difficult, isn’t it? Why can’t we simply believe the Good News of our salvation? Well, it means that we have to enter by the Gospel-gate, and that gate’s too narrow for us! You’re the camel and the gate’s the needle’s eye! You won’t fit unless God makes you fit! Through Jesus Christ and His cross He has done what is humanly impossible. He saves everyone who believes in Him for salvation!