The path of pressure

If you’re at a crossroads in life today, you have two options: (1) Turn right or left. (2) Go forward or back. There’s no doubt what way God wants you to go—forward! If you have any doubts about that, read and meditate on these Scriptures: “Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would increase abundantly” (Job 8:7 NKJV). “They go from strength to strength” (Psalm 84:7 NKJV). “The path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18 NKJV). “Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all” (1 Timothy 4:15 NKJV). God will give you the grace and strength to go forward and pursue the path ahead, but understand this: it’s not always an easy path. Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it. But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14 AMPC). Here Jesus was preaching His famous Sermon on the Mount, where He outlined how we’re supposed to live as citizens of His kingdom. It’s the difference between the “many” and the “few.” The first group chooses the path of ease, but the second chooses the path of “pressure,” realizing that tough as it may be, it forms the character of Christ in us.