The Dangerous Choice That Everyone Takes | Matthew 7 | Crossroads Daily

Hey, I'm Chuck. I'm Kirsten. I'm Mish. And I'm Miko. And we are talking about Matthew 7. I do, I love, this is the end of the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus is kind of giving a contrast. One of the things that I, I don't know that I totally got as a kid growing up in church with Sunday school Jesus is how much Jesus lays out forks in the road for us all the time. Like, love you, for you, died for you, and you need to choose. And so we're talking about, I mean, there's a lot in the, in what we read today, but one of them is he talks about the narrow road versus the wide road. Right. And so I guess one question that maybe get us thinking about is, is there a time in your life where you fought against the narrow road and you chose the wide road that leads to destruction? What did that look like and what happened? I'd say just my early teens is where it started for me. Just, just definitely just wanting to be with my friends and do the, you know, all of the influences I had around me was like very, I mean, not, you know, literally like a wider road, you know what I'm saying? As opposed to like my mom wanting me to go to church and come to church with her, you know, on Sundays or whatever. Like it, outside of that little slither of our life, the rest of everything that I had access to was the wide and narrow road. And I don't know, at that age, I just didn't have the, for the tool to like stay that narrow path. I'm like, no, I want to go do this. Now, no idea what all that would lead to at that age. Well, honestly, I take that back. I kind of did know, but it's like, yeah, if I'm honest now, as I'm sitting up here thinking about conversations I had, like I kind of did know, but I don't know. You still couldn't resist it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I think so I found, I accepted Christ in college and I distinctly remember still like feeling the urge to fight that narrow road following that. It's like, I've accepted Christ, but I still have alcohol and the desire for girls and honestly, porn too. Those were wide roads that very easy to walk down, led to destruction, led to a lot of destruction with relationships and with my own self care, to be honest. And like how well I was doing in school and things like that. So those were, those were things that Jesus definitely led me back somewhat aggressively at times. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. It's honest. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm struggling to think of an example because I just know this is such a controversial scripture that people wrestle with, like in the narrow road. Yeah. Cause they're like, why would I want to go on a narrow road and leave all of like

my friends, family behind, you know, like, Oh yeah. Like what a dumb decision that looks on paper. Yeah. Right. Like, but now in my own life, having chosen the narrow road, like I, I believe there was a choice put before me that I had to surrender the one that had all my loved ones, all my friends, all everyone and choose this, what felt like it would be a lonely road, but it so wasn't like, like the, the, the fruit, it talks later, like the healthy fruit in this road is just like, so worth it. And it's so fun now watching people choose that. Cause you have up until, I don't know the details, I'm not going to pretend, but like the criminal on the cross in his last breath. And so watching your loved ones, like slowly choose that narrow road. It's like, Oh my gosh, I've just been waiting for you to, to see the goodness. And so, um, I'm sure I have examples of times I've kind of like looked at him and like, Oh, that does look appetizing. But I just know, like, it's not, it's all like a look. Yeah. Yeah. Well, what I hear in your story though, is redemption. Oh yeah. That like you chose the narrow road. And at the time there might've, that might've created some distance from maybe family culture, but there's this beautiful redemption story that's still playing out in your family. Oh yeah. You just baptized your, was it your mom baptized your mom, my cousins, my aunt. And I was actually over there the day and you just even see sparkles and like the spread, you know, like the little decisions, the family members that still haven't made that decision. But a couple of years ago, we're calling you Jesus girl. And like, you're so dumb, like Like just have some fun. I'm like, I'm having so much fun. Yeah. Yeah, no idea what I'm having. I think you're having a terrible time You got it you got to judge it don't judge it by the appetizing of it judge it by the outcome Right, but the fruit by the fruit by the fruit Like really good fruit the other day. My son came in and he had Berries on his face. I was like, we don't have berries in the yard My mom was out there with him. I was like mom There's like a mulberry bush back there is fine looks like blackberries. I'm like you cannot let my son eat wild berries More of the story like it might look like a blackberry, but it won't taste like a blackberry I was so I've recovered. Yeah Movie cars. Oh, yeah This scripture always reminds me I don't know if I have a point with this

Reminds me in the middle of the movie What Lightning McQueen's having somewhat of like a turnaround and he sees like where the road used to cut through radiator Springs? and it's like beautiful like winding with the With the scenery and like the landscape, you know on the flip side You see like the highway system just crossing through everyone's like and he just goes like they're all missing that you they're all missing everything They're seeing I think that's the narrow. So I read this I'm like, I also read the wide road is like I wonder if that's like Jesus referring to a man-made like paved road Wow, we're missing it. Yeah, like the roads already existed, but we're missing it We're missing what Jesus or what the God gave us and mm-hmm right from the beginning Chris I'm curious and I love in your story how like you didn't even know the implications that Would come that would follow you getting on that narrow road. It wasn't even just about you You know what I'm saying? Well, it may have seemed like a lonely decision now, and you're welcoming other people Whether you're doing it intentionally or it's just like hey, I want to be where Kirsten is You know what? I mean? Like I don't know. I love that part of your story Yeah, and that's the fruit the fruit of your decision real quick I do want to talk a little bit about that whole idea of judging people by their fruit What what helps you to judge if something is pointing you in the direction of Jesus or not? How do you discern that because I think that's a really important thing for people following Jesus Well, I don't think it's a coincidence that it's called the fruit of the Spirit. What scripture is that in? That's a relations like I think that's on purpose and that's Gentleness self-control like those are very tangible things that you can see. Yeah come out of people. Yeah, but just as a list Yeah, that's good. Yeah That's a hard one though. I do I do want to recognize that because it's like just showing grace to like if you were listening or following or listening to advice or someone who ended up being what we would say is The scripture saying it's a false teacher or false prophet or I'm just like I don't want to put like this blind statement around Yeah doing someone that that the scripture might be referring to is They might have had those things out on the outside of like the fruits of the Spirit They might have been very gentle and kind and just like a good communicator or something like that

But it turns out things in their life the demons in their own life. They're wrestling. Are you telling me? I'm wrong. No Recognize like yeah grace that I've had to show myself when I've been people I've trusted and listen. Yeah, you might not get it, right Exactly So that doesn't answer your question, but I just want to just show some grace I think it does I think I think it's helpful to have that in part of the conversation You know, that's I feel like you know We live in a time where you can look at an app and have four people talking to you about God and you can look At 50,000 other apps that will do the same thing. So I do think it's helpful to ground ourselves in like how do I discern? Yeah, yeah Yeah I'm always having an example. I'm on me and God. We just I don't know me to be taking me on this journey But um, I was wrestling with a decision actually dealing with um, I'll say a relative yeah, and I'm like, okay God, how do I navigate this? Like I'm trying to figure out like how do I best navigate this tense situation with this person? and I just feel like the Holy Spirit said like Humility will light your path forward which up of the two decisions Unpack that cuz you said the Holy Spirit said that to you. Did you hear an audible voice? Right. No, it's just a thought in my heart that didn't come from me like that I wouldn't love myself that because even what followed I didn't want to do I had to wrestle But it's like of the things you're considering Which one is gonna cause you to be humble which one is gonna which one is gonna require humility of you Yeah, that's more than likely going to be the path that God has for you. And so for me, I think, just to kind of like speak to that question, it's more so like these characteristics, the fruit of the Spirit, like what is going to, what requires you to look like Jesus in your decisions? So speaking specifically for, I guess,

making decisions for me, like that's one of the things that I love that. That's awesome. Yeah, so if it point me in the character of Jesus, if it's forming me, if it's something that resonates with what I know is the fruit of the Spirit, something I know is a principle in the Bible, those are all going to be supports to help me say, I think this is the path I need to go on. So that's a great, that's a great place to leave it. I hope that blesses you today as maybe you're discerning through what's a narrow path decision you're facing. ♪♪♪