Can You Tell Me How to Get to Easy Street?

When things get hard I (Katie) tend to check out. I try to stay far from conflict. It’s easy for me to want to run from things that look like they might be hard. 

I’d rather have easy street any day than go head-to-head with the hard road.

Working out? Not my favorite. I love the results, but the process is something I don’t look forward to. Pain and suffering? I try to avoid it. Maybe you like a challenge. If so, then Matthew 7:13-14 is for you. ;)

“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 7:13-14 

I may try and avoid pain, suffering, and difficulty at all cost, but no matter how hard I try, I will meet it along my roads, face-to-face at some point. Sometimes I cause my own difficult road by trying to avoid pain or make life “easier.” 

Thankfully it is not about me or my ability to find the right gate, stay on the right path, or endure hardship with grace. Hardships will come and I will face them. Troubles will come and I will need encouragement. The book of Acts can be really helpful in remembering that hardships are not a new idea, and there are not more hardships for us now than for those that have gone before us. The Christian life has never been a bed of roses.

Acts 14:21-22, similar to Matthew, reminds us that the kingdom of God comes via the hard road, the complicated road, rather than easy street:

“When they preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” 

But thankfully someone walked the road ahead of us. Jesus opens the gate and comes to find us. This Good Shepherd walks the salvation road of hard and complicated for us. Then, He is our own road of daily life, no matter how hard and complicated, with us.

What are the hardships on your road?

We can’t just pull ourselves up by our bootstraps to get through.

The gate is narrow but we don’t need to widen it. We have the Way.

The way is hard but Jesus went before us and stands as the Gate.

Jesus the Good Shepherd, the Gate, the Door, the Way –

He restores my soul…and my road.

 Up Next: Video 5, He Restores

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