Week 8 | Day 3 THE NARROW WAY Luke 13:22-30

In Luke 13:22–30, Jesus was traveling toward Jerusalem, teaching in towns and villages, when someone asked, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” Jesus didn’t satisfy curiosity with statistics. Instead, He turned the question personal and urgent: “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” He warned that a time is coming when the door will shut, and many will stand outside pleading, claiming familiarity—“We ate and drank with you… you taught in our streets”—yet He will say, “I don’t know you… depart from me.”

Jesus then painted a sobering picture of reversal. Some who assumed they were “in” will find themselves out, while people from every direction—east, west, north, and south—will recline at God’s table in the kingdom. The significance is clear: salvation isn’t about proximity to religion, heritage, or casual association with Jesus; it’s about a real, responsive relationship that receives Him on His terms. The kingdom is both urgent (the door will close) and expansive (God is gathering the nations).

APPLICATION

1. Examine Your Foundation

Salvation is about true faith in Christ—not trusting in our familiarity with Christianity?

2. Practice Immediate Obedience

Choose one clear step Jesus has been calling you to take and do it this week. Trust and obey.

3. Strengthen Your Communion

Build daily time in Scripture and prayer not as ritual, but as relationship. The narrow way is the only way—and it is a way of relationship not religion.

4. Repent of Entitlement

Confess any “I deserve” thinking and replace it with gratitude for god’s mercy and grace.

5. Extend the Invitation

Intentionally welcome and share Christ with others as God leads you to help them to discover the narrow way that leads to life.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, keep me from empty familiarity and false confidence. I don’t want to merely be around Your words—I want to know You, trust You, and follow You. Give me a sober urgency to respond today, and the humility to depend on Your grace alone. Search my heart, expose what is superficial, and form in me a sincere faith that obeys. And make me an instrument of Your welcome—help me love others and point them to Your open door while it is day. In Your name, amen.