Matthew 7:13-14:  Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Matthew 7:21-23:  Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

God is about a relationship, not religion.  He is not looking to judge us, He is looking to mature us so that Heaven will be a place full of wholesome relationships for all eternity.  He will judge those that reject Him, but the reasons why are important.  One reason is that those who reject Him also influence others to reject Him (Romans 1:18-32 esp. v18 & 32).  Also, He cannot allow the those attitudes and values into Heaven or it would lead to the same strife we have here.  A loving and wise parent keeps bad influences away from their children because the parent knows that they will corrupt their child.

We tend to feel most comfortable and assured when we are in agreement with the crowd.  But that is the opposite of where we should be finding our purpose, values and truths.

The crowd is what has created all the strife we see in this world.  God gave us this blink-of-an-eye time on Earth so we can see what happens when we do things our way and the resulting mess makes that clear.  We are the crowd.

We are in a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:12) and most people are completely unaware of it.  We tend to focus on the problems, pleasures and perspectives of this world and that makes it easy to miss out on what God is telling us.

There are still people today, 2,000 years after Jesus’ resurrection, that are still rejecting God’s teachings because they think they are smarter than God.  That makes these two verses scary.

God is calling.  Like a loving and wise parent, He has good plans for His children.  Get to know Him, not what you want Him to be.  It is worth more than you realize!

Referenced verses:

• Ephesians 6:12  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
• Romans 1:18-22  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools…