Narrow is the Way

Early morning fishing on Mill Lake

Our usual routine on Sunday is to attend the early morning service at our church, but that did not work out last Sunday so we attended the 'new' service which is a Sunday evening start time. We now have seven services on the weekends to meet the huge demand, and it is very convenient to have options.

Although I have always enjoyed the worship time and take great delight is singing in spite of a croaky old voice, I am going more and more for the meat of the message. Connecting with friends and like minded people is vital in life, but beyond that, we need input and learning in our lives also. What I am getting lately is a confirmation of what I have sensed and known for a long time, and that is the fact that it is becoming more difficult as times goes by, to live and profess the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is very counter-culture. It was not always that way in Canada.

The current message series is the letters to the seven churches from the book of Revelations. There are commendations and reproof for each church, and a common thread is the difficulty of preserving a pure gospel of Jesus in a pagan culture. Of course, the culture at that time was much more severe in its condemnation of Christianity, but in many ways, we are getting close to what it was then. We are being overtly and sometimes subtly influenced by a godless culture and we often inadvertently buy into it. It creeps up on us. Instead of drawing sharp boundaries around our faith, we keep moving the borders outward to include more and more in our faith. Our culture screams at us that tolerance and inclusivity are necessary to keep from offending anyone. Nobody is wrong so do not make them feel bad by telling them they are wrong. So we accept and condone to keep from rocking the boat, and soon we have strayed from the gospel. Jesus said the way would be narrow and difficult, and few would find it, but we are to persevere. We hear the exact opposite today. "Everyone is on a spiritual journey and all roads lead to the same destination. Just be sure you are on a path." When we follow Christ who says that he is the only way, we are asking for trouble for ourselves and the church we represent. So, we have to be narrow and intolerant in order to be true, and that, my friends, is very counter-culture.