Non Gamstop CasinoNon Gamstop CasinoNon Gamstop CasinoNon Gamstop CasinosNon Gamstop CasinosNon Gamstop Casinos
Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
  Orange Standard

A Personal Decision

Article 3 ~ May 2006

"Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at, because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matthew 7:13,14.

It was a constant word and warning of Jesus to people that "living is choosing". We are always being faced with decisions and often they have positive and negative alternatives. To make one is to be wise, to go for the other is to be otherwise. This straight talking of Jesus is the reminder to those who can recall incidents in the lives of the great personalities of Bible history when similarly strongly worded appeals to people were made by their leaders who faced them with choices.

There was Moses, "See I have set before thee this day life and good, death and evil, therefore choose life, that thou and thy seed may live."; Joshua. "Choose you this day whom you will serve, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord"; and Jeremiah. "Behold I have set before you the way of life and the way of death."

The poet, John Oxenham, underlines that thought:

"To every man there openeth
A way, and ways, and a way;
And the high soul treads the high way;
And the low soul gropes the low.
And in between is the misty flats
The rest drift to and fro.
And to every man their openeth
A high way and a low;
and everyman decideth
The way his soul shall go."

The young Jesus from the hill behind Nazareth on the plain of Megiddo, could see the main road from Egypt to Babylon. Off that main road there was a narrow path. It was the pilgrim's way to Jerusalem. As He watched the travellers he could see those who kept to the broad road to Babylon or the narrow track to the city of God. He may have had that thought in mind - the broad road which would take many into the temptations and dangers of the big city; the narrow road with the promise of a better way of life in a very different environment. The travellers made their choices. The two roads, and they are always there if the place, country and people are different, and from another age and time.

The broad and much used road and the narrow one could represent what is the easy and the hard ways to travel in life. Christians have compared the one as the way of the world and the other as the way of Christ. In what is of most importance to people is the difference between the thoughtful and the thoughtless, the wise and the foolish.

Jesus was emphasising, reiterating, what He said so often, the way to God is narrow; the way of the world is broad. Narrow because it has a recognisable destination and an objective, faith in God and the fellowship of His people.

We decide to go one way or the other, for the question is ours to answer and we do it person by person. They are our very good friends, whether they be family, pals or preachers, old or new friends, who encourage us to turn to Christ. That decision is the one to make all the difference to our lives. And it will affect for good all those who share their living with us in whatever capacity.

Rev. Canon Dr. S.E. Long

Back to Back ~ Orange Standard Home ~ Issue Index ~ Previous Article~ Next Article

The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
Schomberg House, 368 Cregagh Road, Belfast, BT6 9YE
T: +44 (0) 28 9070 1122 ~ F: +44 (0)28 9040 3700
Buy Online - the best way to buy

© Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland 2002-2006

Site Map

Web Design by www.truska.com