The King James Version of the Bible translates “narrow” as the “strait” gate. ‘Strait’ is a Middle English word which means narrow and difficult. The Berean Study Bible translates verse 14 as: “But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
The godly path of life has many surprising and challenging twists and turns. If we think of two ditches on each side of life’s spiritual highway, representing departing from God’s law and sin, many veer off into one of these ditches. God exhorts us: “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2). So, one ditch could represent forgetting or neglecting a law of God—taking away. The other ditch can represent putting our own ideas, habits and traditions ahead of God’s law—adding to.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). We determine what right and wrong is from God’s Word. “The road less traveled” involves repenting — turning from—sin, which is the breaking of God’s laws (1 John 3:4), being baptized to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 8:14-18) and cultivating a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father through daily prayer and Bible study.
Journeying “on the road less traveled” requires self-sacrifice, humility and a sincere willingness to serve others. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3, Berean Study Bible). This stands in contrast to the self-centered, disobedient way of life: “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).
The wide road of focusing exclusively on one’s own physical life, with its interests and endeavors, leads spiritually nowhere. Conversely we have an amazing future if we choose “the road that leads to life” and faithfully follow it. This does not mean we won’t face troubles in our physical life, but Romans 8:18-19 tells us, “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed” (Romans 8:19, New Heart English Bible).
Life is full of distractions that could cause us to end up in one ditch or another. Proverbs warns us that: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). Our raw human nature is described in Romans 8:7—“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” We must overcome that rebelliousness by the power of God’s Holy Spirit (verses 8 and 14).
The blood of Christ frees us from the penalty of sin, and our adherence to the law of God reflects the appreciation and love we have for the precious gift of His blood and the offer of eternal life, as we strive to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).
