Living in the Middle of the Road
Get in the mix if you want to make a difference.
Thursday, October 12, 2023
By Jennifer Nanney
Reprinted from The Stand
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).
I once heard a story about a man who was trying to paint a picture – a visual representation of the Christian life. The way he viewed it was based on the passage in Matthew where Jesus spoke of the wide gate and the narrow one, but instead of a gate, the artist had painted his picture using a broad road that had a narrow path winding alongside it. Most people were on the big road, but a few were on the path. Here is how I imagine that painting …
The broad road is full of people all heading the same way. There is confusion and chaos along that highway, as all kinds of different folks are making their way down the road. Of course, some folks are just minding their own business as they walk along carrying their loads or pulling carts behind them. Then there are others who are not content to simply walk the road but are intent on wreaking havoc on the folks traveling beside them – attacking other travelers or stealing things from other people’s carts. Some people are obliviously flitting around as they trip mindlessly down life’s road. And there are even a few folks who are doing good things and trying to help those who have fallen or been injured. On this huge road, there are all kinds of people with what seems to be a multitude of goals or plans in mind.
Yet they are all traveling in the same direction, which is the way to destruction, according to Jesus.
In my mind, I also see that little narrow path off to the side. There aren’t a whole lot of people traveling that way, and the ones who walk there are fully focused. Their eyes look straight ahead, and they are not concerned with the chaos going on right next to them.
But there is more to the story about the painting …
As the painter finishes his masterpiece, another man walks up and looks at it. He asks the artist about the meaning behind the painting. After he hears the explanation, the second man says, “That’s a great painting, and I see what you are trying to portray. However, might I suggest something? To truly represent the life of the Christian, I think you need to move the path and put it right in the middle of that highway.”
Things that make you scratch your head and go, “Hmmm …”
When I decided to write about this topic, I tried to find a reference to the story about the painting but was utterly unsuccessful.
However, I did run across numerous articles and sermons about middle-of-the-road Christianity – all of which were about the trend to try and make Christianity more palatable and acceptable to a lost world by “going soft on sin,” and how that is not a good thing. Agreed!
Another topic that came up in the process of my search was the issue of Christians who promote moderate views in politics and social issues in order to have some consensus with non-believers, which I suppose goes hand-in-hand with the middle-of-the-road Christianity mentioned above.
And then there was a book I found, The Christian Middle Way: The Case Against Christian Belief but for Christian Faith by Robert M. Ellis. According to the Amazon description, the author proposes “Middle Way Philosophy” that was “inspired initially by the Buddha’s Middle Way,” and it is “a critical universalism. … an account of how Christian faith is not only possible without ‘belief’ in God or Christ, but indeed puts us in a better position to access inspiration, moral purpose, responsibility, and the basis of peace.” In other words … um … not biblical Christianity at all!
Now back to the painting …
The “middle of the road” referenced in the story is not about Christians needing to water down the gospel of Christ. It is also not that we should “ride the fence” about moral issues. And it certainly is not about trying to synchronize the message of the Bible with the teachings of Buddha!
It’s more about the passage in John 17:14-19, which is part of Jesus’ prayer for His disciples:
I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them away from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. Just as You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, so that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
This is the passage that gave rise to the phrase about being “in the world but not of it.” And that is the idea behind painting the narrow path smack-dab in the middle of that big old road.
Followers of Jesus are called to go into the world and make disciples (see Matthew 28:19 and Acts 1:8). But if we are removed from any interaction with the lost (like that little path on the side), how can we reach them with the gospel? Oh sure … occasionally, a few of the souls headed for destruction might take a detour onto that narrow way (or into a church service), in which case the travelers on that path could share Christ with them and possibly initiate a change in course.
However, if we truly want to reach the masses of lost souls on their way to hell, that means going where they are. We must get onto the road!
Whereas the person over on the side will occasionally see someone from the big road accidentally pass through, the person in the middle of the road cannot avoid contact with those headed for destruction. Being in that little lane will bring about intersections with the lost, and those situations may look difficult or even hazardous.
That is to be expected. Jesus told us so: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
But understand that the tribulation we will encounter as we walk through enemy territory will not always be caused by the travelers heading for destruction. Oftentimes, our trouble here is when we give in to temptation and fail in our mission of following Christ. We may get distracted or let one foot wander from the pathway. We may even be overrun by others on the path with us when they themselves are distracted or faltering!
Just know that when those troubles come … even if they’re nobody’s fault but our own … we can’t give up! The apostle Paul said:“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). This journey of life is not about us anyway; it is all about Jesus!
If Jesus has rescued us and set us on that narrow way, He will make sure we arrive at home. As Paul also said, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
As our journey brings us to those inevitable engagements with the travelers going to destruction, we must be prepared to share about the One who gave us a new direction and set us on His path. Doing so might just bring us new companions on the little road to a great big Life!
RELATED:
Leave a Reply, please --- thank you.