For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:14

I think one of the hardest walks is the walk of Faith and Life in the Gospel, and yet, light and easy at the same time.

The walk is one by the Spirit, and not by the flesh, and requires faith to walk it.  It requires a hatred and a crucifixion of everything of this life, but when done as a response to a revelation, it is always with joy.

But, he calls us to learn this way of His, and to call others to it.

The world is bound to sin.  All of humanity is corrupt, and while the natural man, and yea, even the new Christian, may or may not recognize this fact, the simply fact remains that this world and the things in it, by and large, are death, even though they may seem like life to the soul.

Many Christians, failing to recognize this fact, have made a shipwreck of their faith, either through sensuality, intellectualism, or other pursuits of this life.

O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge “–

1 Timothy 6:20

Paul elsewhere writes that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ (Colossians 2:3).  And, again, John the Apostle wrote,

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.  If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:15

The cry for holiness is somehow lost in many congregations, yet in Hebrews it again is written that without holiness, no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

But, it is a Spiritual way.  Paul, writing to the Colossians, condemned that rules of man saying, Do not taste, touch, and handle!  He said they have no use whatsoever in true holiness.  They are the devices of the flesh.  But, instead, he admonishes men to put these things to death through the Spirit, through that power and person living within, and to account oneself already having died and thus free from the grip and control of sin.  Surely, this is a different way altogether.

Yet, it is not by any account a walk of mediocrity.  It is a doctrinal agreement, but it is a person, living within, taking one over.  As Jesus said, whoever breaks the least commandment and teaches others to do so will be counted least in the Kingdom.  God’s standard has never changed, but our method of living out that holiness has.

But, the path does not stop there.

We must see that this path of perfection continues on into realms and glory of God.  Even as the apostles were partakers of the glory of the age to come, and as that increase of His government and peace have no end, so too, we, so much as it is given to us, are called to pursue this ever increasing realm of His Kingdom continually, seeking and clinging to Him always.

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:10-14

As with everything of this fallen world, that which is not growing is dead already, even though it stands.  If we are not reaching towards Him, we have already become stagnant, cut off from the source, even though we do not know it yet.  As Buford Dowell, an organist for revivalists such as William Branham and A. A. Allen, said, “The greatest place to lose your walk with God is sitting in the church somewhere, with your mind tied up and tangled up in religion and stuff, and all these do’s and don’ts. But if you want to know Jesus, He is here.”

But, the walk into the Spirit begins with a simple faith step, and grows to encompass everything of this life.  The true walk of the Spirit, unstopped by the hardness of our heart and unforgiveness (the stoney soil) and the cares of this life (the thorns in the soil) produces a harvest of righteousness, and an increase to the Father in abundance.

But, as we pass by the things of this life, even the thoughts and intents of our fleshly heart, we come into a spacious place in Him.  We come in, through repentance and humility, a greater grace (James 4:6-8).

Surely, John 3:19-21 sums up our struggle.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

John 3:19-21

If we could bring everything we are into His light, and have no dark corners remaining (Luke 11:36), we would find ourselves full of His light, His life.

For even God, despite man’s failings, remains perfect in all things.  He alone in the heavens is Holy, truly holy, and all holiness is derived from Him.  And, as well, He alone is love.  We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Even as we overcome the personal struggles of losing this life, we learn we must overcome the struggles of those who have not learned such a surrender.  They are babes in Christ, not yet discerning good from evil, and not yet understanding the way of the Lord, as Paul said, “are ye not carnal?” (1 Corinthians 3:4).

Yet, as Moses was provoked in his spirit when the children of Israel rebelled another time, grumbling and complaining against Him and their God, He failed to revere God as Holy in their presence.  Becoming angry in himself, and not in the Lord, he lost His chance to enter into the promised land, and another, Joshua, had to take his place as leader.

Even as light grows, the road remains narrow, the gate small.  Yet, the choice becomes to live in His love, or not at all.

For the love of Christ constraineth us;

2 Corinthians 5:14 (portion)

As we grow in His Grace, and are a witness, the simple choice is simply to be His light, to be His salt in a stale world.

There is no life, and yet, the same grace and love that taught us to be holy must be the same grace applied to those who might see our lives.  Anything less would be result in a different Gospel.

Surely, no change can come in another’s heart except that Faith is sprung afresh.  It is not by the work of man, nor the efforts of men that salvation is brought to a heart, or that any real change is brought to a human heart.  It is only when then Word of the Kingdom is brought forth, and faith comes to the heart, that men are changed.  Either the must be wholly converted by the grace that comes through faith, or we must leave off altogether.

Surely, we must preach against sin, and make a clear distinction in our own lives, but the only difference that will come about in this life in the heart of another is when they see the Kingdom, they recognize that treasure in the heavenly places, and pursue it with all of their heart, for their own benefit.

Let us leave off all other attempts and pursuits of the Gospel, at least until we have this One blessed Thing.  Nothing matters short of it, and it, in itself, produces the whole of the tree which is the Kingdom.

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:  Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

Matthew 13:31-32