“Enter through the narrow gate because the wide gate and broad path is the way that leads to destruction — nearly everyone chooses that crowded road! The narrow gate and the difficult way leads to eternal life — so few even find it!” — Matthew 7:13-14 (TPT)
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A young hooper I mentor, let’s call him Milton, is 12 years old. Milt is a diehard baller, a hard worker and a high-character young dude. While Milt is high-charactered, he’s still just 12 years old and wants to fit in and be accepted. Because of that, Milt has started to cuss. As Milt explained to me, he only does it when he’s frustrated on the court. He felt that he could cuss on the court, and because of his character, he would not do it off of the court.
I had been working with Milt for years and never had he cussed prior to this. When he explained his rationale for his mid-game tirades, I knew that was not who he was, so I pressed him even more as I asked why all of sudden he went from never cussing to hard-core cuss words? Milt courageously explained that everyone on his team did it, so he just started doing it as well.
Milt, to his credit and his parents’, had established a standard for who he is as a young man overall, and as a basketball player as well. As he was trying to find himself as a competitor, most others on his team were not traveling on the same path he was. While Milt did not realize it at the time, but he was at a spiritual fork in the road. He was not prepared for the fork that would require him to either travel by himself (not cuss), or be accepted and included while traveling down a road that contradicted who he was becoming.
While in Milt’s case it was profanity, as you arrive at your fork, maybe it’s something else: serving your teammates, not backstabbing your players if you are coach, remaining faithful romantically, not taking shortcuts, being authentic on social media, having a Godly social life, or something else. Whatever your fork is, you must be prepared to travel the narrow road that is often lonely. And as you consider which direction you’re going to go, consider Mark 8:36-37 (NLT): “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”
That said, while the path of life-giving light that God promises may be lonely at times, it promises you peace and will lead you straight to the finish line God has for you. “A life frittered away disgusts God; he loves those who run straight for the finish line” (Proverbs 15:9, MSG).
As you continue on the path God has for you — the one most others will choose not to travel — do so without carrying the weight of guilt that comes from thinking you are turning your back on your people (those who choose not to travel down the path you do). You are not turning your back; you have just committed to being obedient to God and following His life-giving path of light. It just so happens that by doing so, it is taking you further away from the path of darkness that others have made the choice to continue down.
— Nick Graham
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