“The Road
That Leads to Life” by Melanie Rigney (@melanierigney)
“I will make your
descendants like the dust of the earth; if anyone could count the dust of the
earth, your descendants too might be counted.” (Genesis
13:16)
He who does justice
will live in the presence of the Lord. (Psalm 15:1b)
"Enter
through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to
destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and
constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few." (Matthew
7:13-14)
Piety
Lord, You are loving but Your margin of error is small for those who do
not come to You with a contrite heart. Help me never to fear to seek Your
forgiveness so that I may start anew.
Study
Entering
through the narrow gate at the end is what most of us want, because it leads to
the promise of eternal life and joy in the Lord. We hear the message that only
a few will make it, but we’re pretty sure we will be among them because we’ve
been baptized and confirmed and we’re not homicidal maniacs and sadists or
anything like that.
We look at
lists like the one Gallup put together of Americans’ most admired people of the
20th century, a list that included the likes of Mother Teresa, John
Paul II, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela. We know
we’re not as good or holy as any of them, but it’s not like we’re Hitler or
Stalin or Pol Pot, so we feel pretty good about that.
But here’s
the thing. Every one of those people, like us, had at least a rudimentary
knowledge of what would be required to enter through the narrow gate: Love the
Lord with all their being, and reflect that love in the way we interact with
others and treat ourselves. Some did their best to meet their requirements;
others, not so much. And every hour, every day, we find ourselves facing the
same choices they did, albeit in less public ways:
·
Do
we kill the spirit in those around us with harshness and judgment or do we
feed it with love?
·
Do
we isolate ourselves from those who don’t look like, think like, or talk like
us, or do we engage and help?
·
Do
we question why the Lord isn’t fixing our relationship, financial, or medical
problems, or do we choose love and trust rather than bitterness and despair?
The choice is
ours: the easy, wide road, or the one with all those restrictions that leads to
life. Which will you choose?
Action
Identify your
most admired person of 2019, famous or otherwise. What can you learn from the
way he or she is walking the constricted road?
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