What Is the Narrow Path?

Twenty years into having opened and entered through the gate offered by the Messiah, I sit back quietly, in the midst of a stilled world, and ponder this “narrow path” I’ve been on. 

At times I was humanly sure of my faith trajectory; at other times, not so much. At times God assured me of direction; other times, not.

If I had had a spiritual GPS the last twenty years, I believe it would have imploded. 

And now? Where have I landed?

If I had to put into words the answer—something nebulous yet clear; cloudy yet transparent; a bit of a conundrum but a puzzle that makes complete sense—I would quote the following words of Christ to define what I now understand to be the narrow path:

“For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:2-5

Now, the crux of this entire verse is to not forgo verses 2-5a and jump to the end: “and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

Many take liberties with Scripture due to lack of God’s conviction, myself included. In addition, I often disregard God’s clear conviction in favor of going where my heated, mischievous heart so enjoys to take me. 

In a nutshell, this is obedience: disregarding the tricks of our heart for the clear conscience of God upon us, and it is upon us via His Spirit at all times. But we would rather be over here, clunking other people on the head for their faults in spite of us having just as many, if not more, and often the very same faults we condemn in others.

Does this verse about being careful how we judge preclude any judgement at all? No, even Jesus says, 

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16 (think Martin Luther King Jr., William Wilberforce, Deborah Sampson and Rosa Parks as examples of those of integrity who were "shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves").

The key is not to be a wolf, especially one in sheep’s clothing, nor to be hoodwinked or drawn by wolves into their narcissistic negativism (fault-finding, complaining, and thinking the worst first, thus automatically writing people and “culture” off). 

We are to judge ourselves in God’s discernment as well as the people and world around us. But it only works when we judge all, including ourselves, in this way.

Just as we are to love others as ourself, we are to judge others as ourself. We love and judge all-in-one, under God and in His Way, because that’s the only way our hearts will not deceive (and let’s be honest: we are often quite aware of the heart’s deceit. We just choose to rely on cheap grace to ignore it).

The narrow path, then, is this: subject ourselves to God for His love and affirmation, removing that duty from the people and world around us, thus freeing us from so much narcissism. 

In that way we, as newborn babes, enter through the gate of God and join His impartial grace for everyone equally. 

Father, Son and Holy Spirit: the only hands of which to grasp as the gate closes securely behind us and we go forth with only them down the narrow path, all the way, to its end. 

Copyright Barb Harwood