And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ (Luke 13:22b-25)
What Jesus presents here contradicts the popular way of thinking. He declares the absolute nature of faith in Him alone. In the modern world we are surrounded by many religions, many choices, options, philosophies and worldviews. The popular view which marks the enlightened minds of 21st human beings especially here in America is that all religions lead to heaven. Therefore these words of Jesus trouble many people including Christians. Many just disregard or ignore them as the ideas of religious fanatics rather than the word of God for most people desire to be given many more choices than only one. Choice and personal autonomy are idols that are inviolable and sacred rights in our nation and in the west.
People who idolize choice reject God’s authority to follow their own thoughts, inclinations, and opinions about what is right and wrong. They are governed by the desires of the human heart in its fallen nature: superficiality, self-love, hypocrisy, greed, false spirituality, false ambition, harshness, violence. Such things do not have to be learned or cultivated. The easy choice has plenty of room for diversity of opinion, competing views of morality, tolerance, permissiveness and political correctness. It has no boundaries of either thought or conduct.
Jesus insists that, ultimately, there is only one correct choice, the narrow door of faith in Him. He desires we choose the narrow door, the way to eternal life. Its boundaries are clearly marked and limited by divine revelation. Divine revelation restricts those who choose Jesus to the confines of what God has revealed in Scripture to be true and good, not our own ideas and opinions. His revelation imposes a limitation on what we believe and sets the standard for godly behavior and righteousness.