Mensa Otabil - A Broad Way (10/29/2025)
Well, so far we said that life is a choice and that Jesus holds the key. Now we’re going to look at the two options that Jesus presents to us. Matthew 7:13: «Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.» Jesus says there are two kinds of ways: the broad and the narrow, and today we look at the broad gate. He shows us that these paths don’t lead to the same destination. Well, in the immediate context, Jesus is talking about eternal life and eternal damnation, but the principle applies to other choices we make in our lives: that there is a broad way and there is a narrow way. He talks about three different things that we will consider today.
First, he talks about the wide gate. The wide gate is a gate that is widely open; it has no access control. This is something, or an option in life, that everybody can enter into. It’s open to all. It has no rules, no restrictions; it appeals to everybody. It rolls out the welcome mat to everybody. Now, when we look at life and we see something that everybody is doing, everybody is going through that way, it’s easy. It doesn’t demand anything from us, and it welcomes everybody. We have to be very careful because Jesus crossed the Broadway. Sadly, in our age today, this gate is getting wider and wider and wider. Permissiveness and just anything goes; anything is accepted. That seems to be the way of our world today, and unfortunately, a few Christians are walking on such a way because they want convenient access. They want no restrictions, and they want something that appeals to everybody.
So the first feature of this wrong direction is that the access is open to all. Secondly, it is a Broadway; it is easy to travel on. Those who enter make no sacrifices; there’s no carrying a cross, there’s no pressure. It’s just everybody feel free; everybody just enjoys life as it comes. These days, you hear people saying things like, «I want to enjoy my life.» It’s good to enjoy life, but when enjoying life becomes all that we want, when I want my peace of mind and that’s all that I want in life, when I want to be happy and that’s all that I want in life, then we are in danger of walking on the Broadway. Because the Christian life does not tell us to just enjoy life and be happy and just have our peace of mind. No, the Christian life talks about trials, tribulation, and difficulty.
Even beyond the Christian life, anything that is worthy of pursuit comes with sacrifices and effort, and some hard work that we must put in together results. So the wrong way has a wide gate; it’s a Broadway, and Jesus says many are on it. I hope you’re not one of the many who are walking on the Broadway, who want to get results without working hard. Sometimes you even see it in the church; people just want you to anoint them with oil, and that solves all their problems. They don’t want to work at their marriage; they want a marriage anointing. They don’t want to work hard; they just want a prosperity anointing. Yes, God anoints us, but His anointing does not take work out of the equation. If you want your marriage to work, in addition to being prayed for, you have to work hard at it. You have to work hard at your business, work hard at school to get your grades. Everything that God wants us to have requires a lot of hard work.
So if you want to know the path that we must not choose, Jesus says it’s called the wide gate; it’s a Broadway. Many are on it, but I’m persuaded that that’s not the road you are on. And even if you are on that road today, get off that road to the next road that we’ll talk about tomorrow.
Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, help me to resist the temptation to choose the easy path. I want to choose Your way. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»