I love the song, The Long and Winding Road by John Lennon & Paul McCartney. Check out the lyrics:
“…The Long and Winding Road
That leads me to your door,
will never disappear,
I’ve seen that road before,
It always leads me here,
Lead me to your door.
We all reach a point in our lives where we want to know what we will become when we get older. Some of us might know what our futures will look like, while others will not for a long time. Some people will go to the ends of the world in pursuit of their dreams and life’s goals. Parents, teachers, friends, and sometimes leaders will back us up or even make a way for us to achieve those goals. Following our heart’s desires can be a great thing-well, sometimes, and depending on how.
Jesus said, “Whosoever will save his life, will lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, will find it” (Matthew 16:2).
Have you seen that road? It’s always there, but maybe you’ve missed it or perhaps you’ve ignored it.
As one of my ESL (English as A Second Language) students once said to me, “Meester, explication, por favation; no entendation!!” She mixed both Spanish and English to ask me to explain something she didn’t understand!
Do you, “Comprende?” Do you understand how to find your way to God? Check it out: The wide road, usually paved (the easy life, selfish life, prosperous life), leads to destruction. But the narrow road (hardship, suffering, where everything goes wrong) is usually the rocky one-the dark and hidden path that leads to Jesus, the Door. AHHH! Still don’t get it?
God wants us all to seek Him and His plans for our lives. When that is done, everything we do will please Him, and if done with the right heart and attitude, it will bring Him glory (that’s losing our lives). However, when we strive for what we want, and we disregard His ways, we are going about it wrongly. Doing our will means saving our lives. At the end of it all, we do not want to miss eternity with Him. Better to lose our lives, but save our souls. (Watch video Lose My Soul by Tobymac on YouTube).
Losing our lives for His sake, (forsake all to follow Him), means, we live only for Him, that’s when we will find our lives.
Your experiences always lead you to the door…
Does that mean we can’t have dreams of becoming whatever?? On the contrary, God will use whatever we do or whatever we are for His glory. But if we disregard Him for our pleasures and desires, we’ve lost it, baby.
We can stand in front of the Door, but it’s not until we enter through IT (Him), that changes take place. Millions of people have taken the long and winding road. They have wound the winding turns. Up and down, they’ve traveled. Many are satisfied with only standing before the Door, but are afraid to enter.
Jesus has paved the road for us. On His way to Calvary, He stumbled, fell, got up, was helped, but pushed on carrying His cross which was really yours and mine. He walked the path that led to His death, that we might find life there.
“Then said Jesus unto them again, Truly, truly, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep” (John10:7). The way to the Door is on the winding road through the narrow gate.
“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 few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture” (John 10:9).
You’re invited to walk His path: Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).
Hosanna!
Sam