S178P13 – Jesus said that: less than many

Mt. 7:13-14

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.

I imagine that those who train to be medical doctors expect that they will make a great impact in the lives of their patients.  Their job is not only to care for people but to heal them and perhaps even bring them back from the brink of death.  At a minimum, doctors expect their patients to heed their advice.  If medical students were advised that most of their patients would not heed their advice and would remain sick and eventually die, I wonder how many would continue to be doctors knowing the low success rate.  The question is whether the work would seem as valuable and critical if it is known to yield those low results.

I read these words that Jesus spoke, and I think it is abundantly clear that most people we encounter will not be saved.  We cannot be realistic about this faith and still expect to see more saved than damned.  If you have heard the illustration of the single file of Christians walking against the tide of the masses of the world marching in the opposite direction, that is what we see here.  The Gospel message of a hope of salvation comes with the truth that most will reject that message.  Knowing this, Jesus still came to bring us freedom from sin and death.  He still found this work to be valuable and critical.  The few who will walk through that narrow gate are worth it.

Knowing that only few will walk through that narrow gate should not discourage us.  It should not make us think that the work we do is not fruitful.  We will be rejected by many, but we will be accepted by some.  Many will remain on that path leading away from God, but some will turn and follow.  As we do this work on behalf of Christ in this world, we must approach it the way He approached his work.  Our work is necessary because we must reach the ones who will turn.  Our work is necessary because there are souls to be saved no matter how many or few.  Father, keep us motivated to continue to reach the few, seeing in them the same value You see.