Why the Narrow?

I spent the majority of yesterday watching Harry Potter...okay I spent ALL day yesterday watching Harry Potter. I had never watched any of the series before, but found myself engrossed in them this weekend. I found myself being caught up in though several times throughout the movies. One of my favorite lines came from the fourth movie: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Voldermort is coming back into the picture and the creepy one-eyed guy (I don't remember his name) is pointing out that he returned to his master and Voldermort retorts something to the extent of, "You came back because of fear, not because of loyalty."This line got me thinking of my motives for continually returning to my Lord. 

Matthew 7:13-14 says, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Right there, it says that our path to God is not going to contain as many of the things that the world does...we are going to have to limit our activities. It says later on that we will endure persecution...that we have to love our enemies...that we have to pick up our cross. Who in their right mind would choose each of these things instead of enjoying the fun of life? 

What are the motives for coming to Christ when there is so much of this torture promised to us? Do we come to Christ and continue to serve him out of selfishness when indeed, we are called to pick up our crosses. A main motivator to come to salvation is so we don't have to be damned for eternity. We can serve other people so that when we reach heaven we can hear "well done good and faithful servant." What are our motivators for asking for forgiveness and forgiving others? 

So many of these motives can boil down to selfishness. I think it is important to continue to evaluate ourselves and what our motives for Christianity are. Christianity calls us to deny our human nature, to humble ourselves and live selflessly.  Christianity is about caring for our neighbor, whether we like that neighbor or not. We are called to return to our master, not out of pure fear, but out of humility...out of a desire to rise above our tainted nature and strive for the way we were originally created. 

So I ask you why? Why are you returning to your Lord? Check yourself.

Much Love and Prayer,
D