The Road Less Traveled
We have a framed poster hanging in our house that depicts a well-known image Christ spoke about – the narrow and wide gates and their associated roads (Matthew 7:13-14). The poster is a very old and fascinating depiction of that bible passage, and it’s a good reminder of the decisions we make in life that take us down one path or another.
One of the interesting features of the poster is the list of building titles, each representing sins or virtuous actions along life’s journey. Many reflect a time gone by. Some of the sins include buildings such as a movie theater, bar, loan shop, and dance hall. On the narrow road, the buildings include a deaconess institution, Sunday school, and of course a church. It shows the wide road ending with a city on fire; the narrow one has a heavenly city at its terminus.
The poster seems quaint to us today, but the basic choice is still the same, even if the buildings have changed. Perhaps today’s buildings on the wide road might be named abortion clinic, LGBT indoctrination school, religious discrimination club, or something similar. On the narrow road may be the church, Christian home, or crisis pregnancy clinic.
Regardless of language, we still make choices each day. The small ones – essentially each step on one of those roads – matter. As Paul Tripp put it, "The character of a person's life is shaped in 10,000 little moments. You carry the character formed in the mundane into those rare consequential moments of life."
So, our journey matters, but we are not traveling the road of life alone. C.S. Lewis says in his book, The Weight of Glory:
…the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities… that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.
You see, whether we help each other to one or the other of these destinations is of supreme importance. I find it hard to reconcile the Great Commission with helping someone dance their way down that wide road.
We have similar choices in the political arena. We have many opportunities to take the easy, wide road. To not get involved with more controversial topics. To let certain values slip a bit when societal pressure hammers us. To not always hold legislators accountable for their actions. However, at NDFA we do not believe that is the way we should conduct ourselves if we truly believe biblical values are to be defended and advanced in ND. We must be bold, and stay on the narrow road.
For precisely that reason, we helped support bills this session dealing with protecting life, fighting social engineering of gender and sexuality, preserving religious freedom, protecting women and children, and much more. It is also for that reason you will be receiving our 2023 Legislative Session Scorecard shortly. We don’t take the easy road, and neither should our legislators if they stand for pro-life and pro-family values. By the same token, those that do protect biblically based policy should be recognized and celebrated by all of us for their faithful stance.
Like so much of life, public policy comes down to doing things the right way, which is often the hardest way, or doing them the wrong but much easier way. It comes down to that poster with the two roads. At NDFA, we always want to be traveling on the narrow road, right by your side. Thank you for allowing us to be your traveling companion.