Christians whose main goal is to make it to heaven are probably making the greatest mistake. This is because heaven is not a believers’ destination. If you are a Christian your destination is God and not heaven. Yes, God is your destination.
The difference between the narrow and the wide gates is one leads to destruction and the other to life. The narrow gate is the way to life; eternal life. This does not refer to what we do daily as we go about our daily business of finding a means of survival. It is actually as mentioned by Jesus’ narratives in Matthew chapter 7. That life is the everlasting life of God.
God is everlasting. His throne and His kingdom are everlasting; and so are His works. What makes Him the sovereign God are His unusual ways. It is interesting to know that we often think in our little minds that we sometimes know better than God. Though we have the opportunity to know Him based on the relationship we have with His Spirit; but His ways are still unfathomable. Until He reveals something to us, we cannot understand His reasoning behind His acts.
Centuries ago, while the nation of Israel wandered through the wilderness for forty years, God decided to feed them with manna, an angelic food (Deuteronomy 7). They were instructed to gather this meal each day, except on the seventh day. God chose to open the doors of heaven to provide them with angel’s food for forty years. It is uncommon for people to eat the food of angel’s, but that’s God’s way.
Why would God go the uncommon route when He could have taken them to places where they can find food? Well, He wanted to test them, so they will know that man should not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). While they ate manna for forty years, God was working on their hearts, testing them. The manna was therefore not the main thing. The main thing was the conditioning of their hearts, because that was the reason for the bread.
Heaven is not the ultimate attainment for Christians, so don’t live just to make it there. You may seek heaven and miss the God of heaven. The ultimate goal and pursuit is and should be God Himself. Because if you find God, you have heaven. God’s ways are unusual, but we can always ask Him to unravel these uncommon doings to us. We can ask Him to show us the mystery behind the things He did in the past, which He is more than able to do again. I pray the Lord shows us His uncommon ways. Amen.