What the soul wants...

What the soul wants...

By Bobby Schuller, Crystal Cathedral Pastor

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

- Matthew 7:13-14

Jesus says to us, "The eye is the lamp of the body," from the Sermon on the Mount. "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be filled with darkness." What Jesus is talking about here is desire, what you want, and specifically about what it means to have treasure in heaven.

And so here we are, wanting eternal life and, at the same time, wanting treasure. We want eternal life but we also want to bend the rules a little bit. We want eternal life, but we want these other things, and so we are torn, fractured, broken, lonely, and we never get anything we want, do we?

That's why Jesus says in the same breath, "Take the narrow road. Wide is the gate and easy is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it, but narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and only a few will find it." And the few that find it are the ones who say eternal life, fullness of life, a meaningful life, is worth all the struggle, all the difficulty that comes with having to say no to so many other things.

That is real power. That's what power is in the kingdom of God. And this is what your soul really wants. This is what everybody really wants. That's the thing that everybody wants - to know and be connected in communion with God.

Prayer: Dear Lord, as hard as it is to let go of those things in life that bring pleasure, or fame, or what I perceive as security, what I really wants is my connection with you...at any cost. Help me to take the "narrow road" to you. Amen.