Not Quite Finished

July 22, 2023

As I was sitting in church today, I heard the speaker talking about the narrow road that believers need to follow which will ultimately lead them to heaven and an eternity with the Creator of the universe. Ever since I was a young man, growing up in my church, I have heard these words and many pulpit speakers expound on them. “Wide is the road that leads to destruction, but narrow is the road to eternal life”, or “The highway to to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it”.

About twenty years ago I found myself living in a country that proclaimed itself as the “keeper of the faith” or “Custodian of the two holy mosques”. That title was said to be first expressed by Salah al-din., who was the first sultan of Egypt and Syria. This country had a LOT of desert but also some spectacular mountains, beautiful coastlines, and other amazing spectacles of nature. My wife and I did a lot of traveling around the country to check out many of the sights we had heard about. We never ceased to be amazed by the incredible beauty we beheld and the kindness of the people we encountered. Traveling through granite mountainsides, scuba diving in pristine waters, and witnessing brilliant sunrises and sunsets arrayed in red hues never got old.

Roads, yes, we traveled on a lot of them in that country. And there were a lot of things that we saw. One day, as were were driving on a six lane highway filled with vehicles, and headed up into the mountains near to where we lived, we came across this sign on the side of the road that said, “ This road is for Muslims only. Non-Muslims must exit and take the next road to the right”. The sign itself was understandable in a country where its citizens are 100% Muslim. And yet the similarity of the Biblical quote to the roads we were on, was striking. The road where we encountered that sign is a large, six-lane highway jam-packed with vehicles, while the one we were instructed to turn off on is a single-lane, poorly paved, back country road, that goes around the entire city and up into the mountains.

It was very difficult to not hear those words from Matthew come echoing in our hearts and minds. Every subsequent time we passed that sign, and there were many, it was always hoped that some of those on that very wide road with the huge gates on the city’s edge, would one day find the true, narrower path in life that would lead them to eternity in heaven.

As of a couple of years ago, after we had left the country, the government finally took down those signs (yet they can still be seen on the Internet) and replaced them with ones that seem to indicate that non-Muslims can now enter certain parts of the holy city. We can only pray that this was a first step in opening the eyes of the unknowers to the security and privilege of the narrow road to salvation.