Why does Jesus teach that the path to life is difficult and narrow, when?

Question

many christians feel all they have to do is proclaim Jesus to be their savior, and poof they go to heaven . does that sound very difficult or narrow?

Answer 1

Matthew 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

it is not enought to profess Christ as LOrd, we must live out our faith, by living the life that he expects of us.

Answer 2

This a troubling question, no doubt!
I am a Sufi, I practice (Mystical Islam).
Jesus (PBUH) is the soul of God.
To find God one must find Jesus (PBUH).
If one finds Jesus (PBUH) then one is allowed to pass into the loving arms of Allah (God).
Jesus proclaimed that the path was narrow and the way was difficult.
The followers of Jesus (PBUH) did not understand what the master was telling them. They choose an easy way instead
of taking the Master at heart and heading out on the path that was narrow and at times very difficult.
It's mans nature to pass up what is difficult and try for a short cut, and an easier path, so to say.
Jesus (PBUH), prayed to the Holy Father as should we.
Any path a person takes today, if found difficult, will be seen as wrong or devious by the majority of people that proclaim to be practicing Christians, especially those that claim to be "Born Again".
Tolerance, Patience, Compassion, Peacefulness, Humility,
Modesty, these are the qualities that will tell the world, whether an individual is truly Christian.
Jesus (PBUH), will return as he said he would,and this event is the only thing that will stop man from destroying both himself and planet earth.
May Gods Peace be with us all..........

Answer 3

The road that is narrow, goes along with "Many are called but few are chosen" --meaning many do NOT accept Christ, they reject Him and always will- but it is only those who are on that narrow path, with Christ that will gain life, and now while on earth, christians are looked down upon, hated- verbally persecuted, and we know it is only because we are sharing the truth with others, Jesus is reassuring us that this world hates us only because it hated him first ( all these verses go together)
Not only do we proclaim Him as our Savior, we want to share HIs word with others and follow Him....give up the world and sin to live for Him ( and that is actually a blessing!) But the difficult part would be that some christians are being persecuted, especially in other countries.....many are just hated and despised. I am sure I am too. But that does not make me love my God any less! I just pray for His wisdom and strength to carry on, and He gives it!

Answer 4

Matthew 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The concept is a gate. The word path is not the correct translation, because this is a reference text which refers to the proof text where Jesus said that he is the door. He said that few find the gate. The gate is conversion which is a process, the process of being conformed to the image of the son of God. Those who find the gate will strive to enter in, and the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ will begin.

Answer 5

Actually, the difficult and narrow part sounds more Buddhist than Christian when Buddha declare Life is Suffering, because all events that happen in our lives always lead to pain be it happy events like winning a lottery, that leads to maybe using up the money too fast or losing the money in another way or unhappy events like a death of a loved one.

Even after Jesus died, all his disciples, friends and devotees that came after him, did not all have easy and wonderful lives either... most were faced with trials and tribulations, but kept Hope and Faith in Jesus' teachings by making effort to live a Righteous and Noble life. They also made a lot of personal sacrifices of time, material and emotions in order to share the message Christ taught ( with a slight exception of Paul... he was kinda wrathful and caustic contrary to much of Christ's way of life... but he made a lot of personal sacrifices too to bring comfort, advise and counsel as best that he could )

Answer 6

The path to life involves loving others to the same degree that you love yourself. This is very difficult to do - to really place other people at the same level of importance as yourself. So the path is difficult. It is narrow because the only way to show this kind of love is to reduce one's self love, to make oneself smaller. There is no room for pride, envy, greed and all of the other things that swell us up. A swollen soul cannot fit through a narrow passage.

Answer 7

Those same people will experience a sad day when they face Christ on that great and terrible day of the Lord.
What Jesus taught was correct. Being a Christian is the hardest thing I have ever tried to do. He also said that "few there be that find it." That is because of exactly what you said - people think that all they have to do is proclaim that Jesus is their Savior, and that's it. That is NOT it. You MUST do as Jesus says to do. Live as He says to live. Love as He says to love. Be kind. Be charitable. There is much more to it than most people realize, mainly because people do not study their Bible enough to know how Jesus expects them to live.

Answer 8

Matthew 7:13 " Enter ye in at the strait gate : for wide is the gate , and broad is the way , that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 :Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way ,which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it . Many people are worldly in todays ways..and many will be in hell , few really trust and believe in Jesus for every thing. Hebrews 11:6

Answer 9

Actually Jesus was talking about salvation. He said straight is the path and narrow the gate that leads to life (salvation) and few will be on it. Broad is the path that leads to destruction and many will be on it. Many people refuse to admit they have sin, or accept Jesus as savior. These are the people on the broad path.

Answer 10

But proclaiming it is easy, truly meaning it is not (for some). I'm still on my path to finding God. Transitioning from an agnostic into the world of Christianity is difficult at times, especially when I keep questioning everything.

Answer 11

There was vigorous attempts to make it into the promised land, the new system, the garden, paradise.
You have to obey everything God says. Cramped is the road leading to life because few are the ones finding it. But the broadway, easy to follow will be the path of little opposition.
He that endures to the end will be saved.