Peculiar People Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14 I once heard a pastor describe Christians as peculiar people. In a recent Gallup poll, eighty-three percent of Americans said that they were Christian. In a later poll, only twelve percent of Americans said that they attend church on a weekly basis. When comparing those who confessed Christianity to those who attend church, we may conclude that there is a wide gap to bridge. Indeed, the road we walk is narrow.
The Christian lifestyle is one that calls us to move away from what is common in our society. This narrow road that Christ tells us about is one that says love your neighbor when society tells us to always "look out for number one." It is a road that welcomes compassion, mercy, charity, and forgiveness, instead of winning at all cost, keeping score,and petty one-upmanship.
We are peculiar people and the road is narrow, but we do not walk it alone. We have this idea that the narrow road is a lonely one. This mentality can hold us back from our true calling as the Church. The community of believers—our brothers and sisters in Christ—walks alongside us down the narrow road. Like "easing on down" the Yellow Brick Road, we are walking a narrow road where God is always with us. But we need to recognize others who also travel this road. Many people are walking in circles on the road and some have stopped walking altogether. Where are you on the narrow road? How well do you know others on the narrow road? How about the person you sit next to in church, in class or in the college cafeteria? What about the people sitting behind you? May we walk hand-in-hand with our brothers and sisters on the narrow road of faith. Trey Hockman Prayer: Father, as we continue to face the uncertainty on the narrow road you call us to be on, give us the compassion and strength we need to encourage one another in faith. May we walk as a community of believers to be an example to the world. Amen.
We are peculiar people and the road is narrow, but we do not walk it alone. We have this idea that the narrow road is a lonely one. This mentality can hold us back from our true calling as the Church. The community of believers—our brothers and sisters in Christ—walks alongside us down the narrow road. Like "easing on down" the Yellow Brick Road, we are walking a narrow road where God is always with us. But we need to recognize others who also travel this road. Many people are walking in circles on the road and some have stopped walking altogether. Where are you on the narrow road? How well do you know others on the narrow road? How about the person you sit next to in church, in class or in the college cafeteria? What about the people sitting behind you? May we walk hand-in-hand with our brothers and sisters on the narrow road of faith. Trey Hockman Prayer: Father, as we continue to face the uncertainty on the narrow road you call us to be on, give us the compassion and strength we need to encourage one another in faith. May we walk as a community of believers to be an example to the world. Amen.
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