Sayings

Straight and Narrow. What image does this phrase bring to your mind. For me there are two images from my teenage years. As a Boy Scout there were a number of occasions were I found my self hiking on Dartmoor area of the Burrator Reservoir when mist would descend and finding one's way proved to be difficult. In that area there were two straight and narrow paths that could be followed, Drakes Mead and the disused moorland railway track.  

Drake's Leat, also known as Plymouth Leat, was a watercourse constructed in the late 16th century to tap the River Meavy on Dartmoor, England, to bring water to Plymouth. The Princetown Railway was a 10¼ mile single track branch railway line that ran from Yelverton on the Plymouth to Tavistock line, to Princetown via four intermediate stations, Dousland, Burrator and Sheepstor Halt,  and King Tor Halt. The line closed in 1956 and today forms part of a popular cycling and walking route.

To the intrepid teenager,  these two straight and narrow ways, once found, enabled the youthful adventurer to find a way home. The parallel to the words of Jesus is plain to see,  “Go in by the narrow gate. For the wide gate has a broad road which leads to disaster and there are many people going that way. The narrow gate and the hard road lead out into life and only a few are finding it.”

Jesus says these phrases at the end of what we know as His ‘Sermon on the Mount.’ It's part of his closing remarks.

The gateway to life is narrow. The word used here in the King James is ‘strait,' which has a different meaning to the word ’straight.'

Straight means ‘not crooked, unbent, upright, honest, honourable in conduct.’

Strait means ‘a difficult and or narrow passageway; a confined area.’

This verse isn’t concerned with our performance of purity and excellence, it’s not talking about our ability to live up to the commandments and live perfectly – otherwise the word ’straight’ would have been used. It has behavioural implications, but its heart is more like what Romans 12:2 talks about: “Do not conform to the ways of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”

One of the most challenging things in life is to ‘go against the flow’; reject conformity and consumerism and employ our minds and hearts to seek out for ourselves the mysteries of life and love. In the believer's case, faith. It's much easier to live a drip fed life – follow the crowd, swallow the marketing, believe everything you’re told, never question, never seek, never learn. That's a little extreme, but you get the idea.

What is this path we are to follow? Succinctly, Jesus put is this way,  “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”

Father, God, I ask that you help me to always remember that I am just passing through this life. This place is not my home; I am just a traveler. Help me to keep my focus on what is important. And when I am tempted to step off the pathway or when I stumble, remind me that you are there right beside me. Help me to listen to your still, small voice and obediently continue on my journey with you. Thank you, Father.