God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.’
Every Christian is called to a life of sacrifice. This daily, living sacrifice is not
tedious, however. It is our way of life, the only way to enjoy our fellowship with
God. Hence Matthew 7:13- 14 records: ‘“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 a few find it.”’
The prodigal was inward looking. At the point of his dissent he was not interested
in sacrifice, or in practicing the values his parents brought him up with. He had
no desire to please the authority figures in his life, but wanted to break free and
do what he wanted. He had no regard either for God, or his own father. Hence
later when he came to his senses he said to his father, ‘I have sinned against heaven
and against you.’
The wide road is the road the prodigal son chose. It seemed wide and easy from a
distance, and for a while felt so, but the farther he travelled down that road, in
effect the harder, the narrower it became due to suffering, want, pain, loneliness,
and separation from his father and family. He left home because he felt his options
had become few, his existence narrow and crowded by the demands of his father.
But out in the land of wild living, soon everything became much narrower and
more crowded, and he longed for the joy, freedom, peace and abundance of home.
Likewise, when eventually he decided to return home, the narrow road he had
hated, the road of obedience, faithfulness and subjection to his father and family,
suddenly began to look and feel wider. The farther he walked back, the more
refreshed, peaceful, joyful and free he felt. He grew eager by the mile as he hurried
back home to his father, to his place of comfort. And when he finally got home, it
did not disappoint. The narrow way became truly broad as the father welcomed
his son back home, with love, pomp, acceptance, without even a hint of judgment.
Rightfully then does Jesus say, enter by the narrow door. This is the way of living
sacrifice, the way of surrender and obedience to God, the way of holiness and
righteousness. This is the way of laying down our lives...