Oops, Missed the Turn! (2)
/June 18, 2018
Scripture
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:12-14 NIV)
Oops, Missed the Turn! (2)
Last week I connected Jesus’ “narrow gate” metaphor with his invitation to treat one another the way we would wish to be treated. Sometimes we miss the turn for the narrow gate. On other occasions we stop at the gate, reverse course and head back to the wide highway.
It doesn’t take a genius to see how our world operates - power, fear, greed, control, guilt, shame, exploitation – just a few of the keys to success in business, politics and a host of other pursuits. Treating the consumer, the citizen, another gender and creation’s resources with due respect is in short supply.
The narrow gate challenges our nature. But it has a powerful force that can draw us into the love of God and transform us to a profoundly different way of acting even as we compete in the world in which we live.
A Prayer for Today
O God, let me go through that narrow gate to discover your transforming power of love. Forgive me when I don’t respect your creation. Forgive me when I miss you in another and don’t offer the respect I would wish for myself. Free me from self-protection to become sensitive to the needs around me. Let me do as I would have done unto me …. For Jesus’ sake
