There are two ways we may live in the world. One way is the way of Jesus. He is the narrow gate and his is the difficult path. Each day Jesus calls us to follow him on the difficult path of freedom which is based on truth, expressed through love, and leads to eternal life.
There is another, far more popular way. That is the way of Satan. Satan is the wide gate and his is the easy way. Each day he bullies, bribes, and deceives us to follow him on the broad smooth highway of power that is based on falsehood, expressed through indifference, and ends in despair, destruction, and death.
Jesus Christ is both wholly divine and wholly human. In an analogous way, each human being is both wholly righteous (following Jesus on the path of freedom) and wholly unrighteous (following Satan on the highway of power). In other words, we each have a wholly righteous personality devoted to Jesus and his way. We each also have a whole unrighteous personality devoted to Satan.
In the end the question is: which prevails? At the end of each day, have I witnessed more to Jesus or to Satan? Have I busied myself sharing Christ's light, love, and life? Or have I simply added to the already abundant darkness, indifference, and death of our world? Another question: as Church, how have we done this week? Have we as members been a blessing to each other and to those outside our circle? Or a burden? As time goes by, and Jesus enables us to know him better, our witness to him should be improving—however little—in frequency and clarity and this solely by his grace.
There have been times in the history of the Church when it has witnessed, with some refreshing clarity, to Jesus Christ by following him more closely on the path of freedom. It is not doing that today. One important reason: We members no longer immerse ourselves in the Bible, listen to Jesus speak through its words, and joyfully affirm our freedom by the power of the Holy Spirit. Instead, we immerse ourselves in today's conventional media of communication (especially TV and internet), allow Satan to deceive us through his slick words and vivid images, and see him greatly increase the strength of our unrighteous personality.
So who needs some refreshing witness to Christ's victory over Satan? Who would benefit from joining Jesus on the difficult but glorious path of freedom and sharing his light, love, and life with others? Everyone would. Today Jesus is renewing his call to join him on his difficult but glorious path of freedom to bless us, to bless others through us, and to glorify God the Father.
