Towards Excellence

“Evil will arrive disguised as supposed well-being, false happiness, feigned peace, of apparent great opportunities…”

Have you had the opportunity to go through a narrow path or door perhaps in your community or on a tourist trip? How did you feel? Was it easy to do, or did you have any difficulty or fear in doing it?

I remember that one of the experiences I had years ago, while doing a video report, was when I visited the home of a low-income family on the Ecuadorian coast. This family lived in the back of a house, located in a neighborhood of extreme poverty, with practically no comfort. Although the front was concrete, I crossed a very narrow small side path to reach the small place rented by the family I interviewed. With great difficulty I managed to cross this dark and narrow passageway, I did it from the side, impossible to pass straight ahead, the space was very small. As I passed by the side of this house, I felt supremely uncomfortable, with uncertainty because I didn’t know what I was going to find at the end of the passage and if it weren’t for the fact that I was accompanied I probably would have felt fear as well.

Well then, Jesus during the well-known “Sermon on the Mount” urged His disciples and in general the large audience that was listening to Him to “enter by the narrow gate.” He specifically told them: “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. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) This exhortation also extends to us today.

Contrary to what we might think, Jesus clearly affirms that wide is the path and wide is the door that leads humankind to evil. In fact, evil will never initially present itself with suffering, tragedy, pain; evil will arrive disguised as supposed well-being, false happiness, feigned peace, of apparent great opportunities; but at the end of the road, it will unmask itself and show its true face – tragedy with no return -.

Jesus in the referred passage is talking about the path to eternal life. A path that begins on this Earth and that each human soul has the freedom to decide where to go; whether by the path that leads to life itself, or by the path that leads to eternal death.

I invite you then to consider the following:

1. Every day we hear in different places that “all roads lead to God or to the same god.” But it is not so, do not fool yourself, or be fooled. The only way that leads to eternal life is Jesus Christ. He himself said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
2. Consequently Jesus is the only door that leads to the path of salvation. He himself affirmed: “I am the door; whoever enters through me will be saved…” (John 10:9)
3. And while we walk the path of salvation, the path to eternal life, a path that many times will not be easy, Jesus will be our sustainer. He clearly stated it: “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will never be hungry; and whoever believes in me will never thirst ”(John 6:35).

The path of salvation, the path to eternal life will not be easy, those of us who have chosen it or those who will choose it, it clearly means that we will have to put aside the “apparent good proposals that life offers us.” The path to eternal life means that we decide to walk in the footsteps of our Master, our Savior, our Lord, our Creator God – Christ Jesus; and these footsteps represent: loving sacrificially, forgiving and sometimes to those who don’t deserve it – humanly speaking, telling the truth, acting with integrity. All this, although many times it is incredibly against us.

Jesus said: “I have spoken these things to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have affliction; but take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Yes, if you decide to choose the narrow gate – Christ Jesus – as your Personal Savior, you will probably experience affliction throughout your life here on Earth; but surely along the way and at the end of it you will find the peace that surpasses all understanding. And that is only found through an intimate relationship with Christ Jesus, our personal Savior, the only true God. But if you do not, unfortunately, your destiny will be – tragedy with no return –; in other words, your destiny will be hell, a real place of eternal torment!

Now, you are just one step away from experiencing that peace, which no one will take it away from you. Pray like this:

God, Creator of the universe and everything in it, I recognize that I am a sinner and today I ask your forgiveness with all my heart. Forgive me and cleanse me of all evil in my life and receive me as one of your children and teach me to walk with an upright heart before you and those around me. Today, I declare that Jesus, your Son, is my Savior and that by His blood shed on the cross, I am forgiven of all my sins. Thank you, Almighty God, for your great mercy and for giving me eternal life in your Kingdom today. I pray all this in the Name of Jesus, your beloved son. Amen.