The Right Way
By Anthony Casperson
8-12-23

Although modern game designers have lessened some of the hard-core elements of these games, many old school point-and-click adventure games gave the player freedom to entirely destroy any chance of completing the game. Whether that came in the form of using up a unique item that seemed pointless until hours after getting it, finding yourself trapped in a level that requires an item which you hadn’t gotten to yet, or something else like this, the result was the same.

There was no way to escape the fate you’d chosen because your actions led you the wrong way.

Pathing structures such as these aren’t used as often today so as to give the players multiple ways to achieve their goals. Unique items can’t be accidentally used or sold. The player can approach the fight from at least three different angles. Another NPC can give you access to the same area with the same, or a similar, quest. It’s impossible to keep yourself from the end of the game, unless you just quit playing.

Our modern sensibilities make us assume that there are always multiple angles to take in order to achieve the same goal. There is no wrong way. Just easier ones and more difficult ones. Either way, you’ll reach the same place.

But the fact of the matter is that, in real life, there is such a thing as the wrong way. Sure, we can approach the right way from a few variable perspectives, but there are many more directions which will never lead us to the destination that we hope to achieve.

Some might want to argue this understanding of a right and a wrong way. A few might even use the age-old adage, “There are many paths that lead to the top of a mountain,” that is often used to excuse those who refuse to see their way’s destructive end. To this, I respond that there might be many paths to the top of a mountain, but there is only one way.

Up.

You can’t reach the top of a mountain by going down. Or sideways. Not without going much more up first. To reach the apex of a mountain you must go the right way. Up. Any other way will never lead you to the destination of the mountain’s peak. Any other way is wrong.

For certain things—especially those that are of great importance—there is a right way. With every other way being the wrong way.

Jesus speaks to this idea of the right and wrong way in our passage for this blog in our “Summer of the Mount” series. Though it’s only a mere two verses, Matthew 7:13-14 packs quite a punch when it comes to truth for our day and age.

(And if you’re concerned about these words sounding harsh or judgmental, remember the verses just earlier in this chapter had spoken of clear-eyed, godly judgement being a gift that we should seek. When it comes to the truth of the kingdom of God, we can either be like wild dogs and pigs that attack—no matter how good the gift is—or be like those who eagerly chase after the good.)

We see that Jesus doesn’t wait to get to the proper application of his words. The command is the very first thing in these verses.

Enter by the narrow gate.

The word “narrow” could also carry with it the idea of “straight.” But either way, the idea is the same. The way has a limited area of access. That degree of entry is tight. My mind goes to those transition points between areas in a modern video game that hide a loading screen while it looks like the character is squeezing through a tight gap. You’re not getting to that location any other way.

But why would we want to enter through this tight gap of an entrance? Because any other way doesn’t lead to a lively ending. Jesus says that the wide gate—the easy way—leads to destruction. A game over screen that can never be escaped from. An endless incompleteness without hope of conclusion.

Life—eternal life—in the kingdom of God is of so much importance that there is one way to enter. And anything other than Jesus leads to destruction.

Many travel down that wide way. Mobs of people stumble and sway down it. They flaunt their “freedom” of direction. Blind to the fact that their way doesn’t lead to the destination they think it will.

See, when a person assumes that there’s always another way, they come to believe that every way will lead to the same destination. And when they have it in their mind that there are no wrong ways, only easier and more difficult ways that all lead to the same destination, then they must question why anyone would want to refuse the easier way. Why give up the “freedom” of motion, if we’re all heading to the same place?

This is the lure of the wrong way. It lies about the final destination while promising ease and comfort. Those who travel this way are so focused on the “freedom” and “good times” that they don’t notice the destruction hidden around the corner.

Jesus is clear. The wide gate and easy way lead to destruction. If one wants to reach the destination of the kingdom of God and the life that it brings, then we must take the narrow gate. It is only the narrow gate that leads to the desired destination. To life. Life eternal with our Creator and Savior.

But notice that I skipped over a few words for the description of the right way in verse 14. It’s not only a narrow gate, but also a hard/difficult way. It’s a way that presses in on us. The word has the connotation of “oppression/affliction.” Only what’s being pressed in on is us. In the hope that we are formed into godliness.

An affliction of holiness that shapes us to be more and more like Jesus.

The difficulty of the right way is the reformation from selfish sinner to selfless saint. And that’s a process which squeezes, stretches, molds, and chips away at our old selves in order to make us into the people of the kingdom of God. A process that takes a lifetime.

It looks hard and constricting and painful. Of course, no one would want that way if another way could lead to the same destination. But again, that’s the lure of the wrong way speaking there. The lie of destruction that makes the way of life seem so unappealing.

We humans are able to withstand quite a lot of hardship for worthy things. For the people we love and the ideals that drive us, we will suffer dire consequences. Some even lay down their lives for such worthy things. So the lie of the wrong way doesn’t attack our love or drive, but rather it attacks the statement that the right way is the only way to the desired destination.

It deludes us with an illusion of life, while opening its maw to consume those who freely walk in.

Hear the words of Jesus. Enter by the narrow gate. Don’t fear or balk at the hard way of holiness. Because that is the only way to life.

Our exact path of how we reach holiness may differ from person to person, but we all must reach out for Jesus, the only way to the kingdom of God. He is our direction. Our way. The only way to reach the peak of life. Anything else will leave us in a state of destruction and defeat.

Go the right way. The gate is open for all who enter.