Our response to the Sermon on the Mount begins with a decision, will we surrender to the surpassing righteousness that Jesus has described for us? That decision isn’t only for a moment, it is a continual choice to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus. The command you “enter by the narrow gate” is followed by the realization that the entrance only begins the journey, stepping through the gate puts us on the way not at the end of the path. Peter’s declaration “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” was the moment he entered the gate, it was his decision to surrender to the truth about Jesus’ identity, but the way was filled with making the same choice over and over again. Peter had to decide to surrender again when Jesus spoke of suffering and death that Peter disagreed with. He had to decide to surrender again when Jesus told him that he would deny their relationship three times in one night, a prediction that Peter was sure he would not ever fulfill. He had to decide to surrender when Jesus knelt down to wash his feet and Peter was uncomfortable believing that it could not be proper for the Messiah to serve him in this manner. Peter had to decide to surrender again when the resurrected Jesus stood with him on the beach asking three times, “Do you love me?” The gate is narrow (could easily be translated small) but the part that is often overlooked is that the way is also narrow, in fact, the way is more narrow than the gate. This means that we need to view the way like a funnel, while narrow at the beginning it gets narrower along the way. It’s not that it simply gets more difficult, it’s that it gets more purposed. The narrowness has a purpose, there is a reason why the way is difficult and it is not simply to keep many from traveling along it, it’s not because God wants it to be hard, God wants us to be saved, it is because the way to surpassing righteousness, to God’s kingdom, to God’s heart and to God’s character doesn’t seem right to us. Proverbs 14:12 says “There is a way which seems right to man, but its end is the way of death.” Ultimately the reason that the way of God is so narrow is because it is completely different from the way that seems right to us. For most of us the biggest decisions of surrender along the way are the decisions of what seems right, feels right and was believed to be right. The gate is narrow, a continual decision of surrender is required and the way is difficult, until we come to believe that our idea of good is subjective and God’s promise of good is trustworthy. The greatest obstacle along the narrow way is our willingness to surrender what seems right to us and embrace what God promises to be good. The narrow way is not meant to break us, it is the path that sets us free, that leads from death to life and that is paved with love, mercy, grace and the kindness of a heavenly Father that cares for us.