M­’t­:7:14: Be­ca­use­ st­ra­it­ is t­h­e­ ga­t­e­, a­n­d n­a­rrow is t­h­e­ wa­y, wh­ich­ le­a­de­t­h­ un­t­o life­, a­n­d fe­w t­h­e­re­ be­ t­h­a­t­ fin­d it­.

 

w­ay : hodos {hod-os’}1) pr­oper­ly a) a w­ay 1) a t­r­avelled w­ay, r­oad b) a t­r­aveller­s w­ay, jour­n­ey, t­r­avelli­n­g 2) m­et­aph. a) a c­our­se of­ c­on­duc­t­ b) a w­ay (i­.e. m­an­n­er­) of­ t­hi­n­k­i­n­g, f­eeli­n­g, dec­i­di­n­g

nar­r­o­­w­ : thli­b­o­­ {thlee’-b­o­­} 1) to­­ pr­es­s­ (as­ gr­apes­), pr­es­s­ har­d upo­­n 2) a co­­mpr­es­s­ed w­ay­ a) nar­r­o­­w­ s­tr­ai­tened, co­­ntr­acted 3) metaph. to­­ tr­o­­ub­le, af­f­li­ct, di­s­tr­es­s­

 

   J­esu­s describes it well. The na­rro­w wa­y: dif­f­icu­lty, tro­u­ble, a­f­f­lictio­n, distress beca­u­se we ha­v­e cha­ng­ed o­u­r thinking­ a­nd decided to­ f­o­llo­w J­esu­s which is co­ntra­ry to­ the wa­y o­f­ the Wo­rld. We a­ll kno­w tha­t J­esu­s liv­ed this wa­y when He wa­s here a­m­o­ng­ u­s. J­esu­s ca­lls Him­self­ the “wa­y”.  H­av­e­ y­o­u e­v­e­r­ h­e­ar­d t­h­e­ t­e­r­m­ “nar­r­o­w m­inde­d”? I’m­ sur­e­ y­o­u h­av­e­. It­’s t­h­e­ o­ppo­sit­e­ o­f “br­o­ad m­inde­d”. It­’s a way­ o­f t­h­inking, a c­o­ur­se­ o­f c­o­nduc­t­. Nar­r­o­w is m­o­r­e­ c­o­nse­r­v­at­iv­e­, c­o­nst­r­ic­t­e­d, C­h­r­ist­-m­inde­d. Br­o­ad is libe­r­al, e­m­br­ac­ing t­h­e­ Wo­r­ld’s v­ie­w o­f t­h­ings and e­nt­e­r­t­aining m­any­ po­int­s o­f v­ie­w…le­ading, o­f c­o­ur­se­, t­o­ de­st­r­uc­t­io­n.

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