"Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few." Matthew 7:13-14 Click for the whole chpt.


Sitting at Starbuck's today, contemplating the quote written on the coffee cup, the the following thoughts hit me:

Middle of the road is often portrayed as some soft peddled version of the truth, but where I am at in the "middle of the road" does not have this taste to it. This phrase "Middle of the road" is not only moderation and tolerance, but it it seems that it is where one must be to enter the Narrow Gate. So I hear, or am told, about BALANCE and the need for it, but what I need isn't balance, or rather it is what I need, but what gives one blance is the weight applied to both sides, wait on both sides of the spectrum. Liberal and conservative, orthodox and heretical. Yet what is found in this middle is not "either/or" it is more akin to a "Liberal Orthodoxy" or a "Heretical Conservatism". What is found here then is not liberal or conservative, nor is it some compromised state, but the middle of the Narrow Way/Gate. This is where Authenticity is found. Only here can be found a complete love of the social gospel (Jesus' glad tiding to the poor/orphaned/imprisoned) with a complete love of the moral gospel (the new law written on our fleshly hearts after having our stony ones removed).

This place cannot be found by our attempt to BALANCE, but only by completely abandoning ourselves to Christ. Abandonment is not BALANCED or SENSIBLE. It is RECKLESS and UNREASONABLE. No moderation, no tolerance of, no openess to, only complete and total abandonment to Christ.