Make Every Effort to Enter God’s Kingdom – August 22, 2022

Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.”
Luke 13:22-24

Make Every Effort to Enter God’s Kingdom

According to the Pew Research Center, in 2015, there were about 2.5 billion Christians on earth. That is a large number of people professing to follow Jesus. And yet, when you consider that there are about 8 billion people in the world, that number doesn’t seem so high. That might lead us to wonder, are only a few people going to be saved?

That is not a new question. In fact, when Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” (Luke 13:23) Now we believe that Jesus is true God, and so we believe he knows everything, even the very number of hairs on our heads. (Luke 12:7) He knows the exact number of people who will be saved. But when he was asked, he didn’t disclose that number. He didn’t tell his followers how many people would be saved.

Instead, Jesus responded, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to” (Luke 13:24). Jesus was not dodging the question but redirecting his followers to a more important issue: their own salvation. He was telling them not to assume that they were automatically in God’s kingdom because of their nationality or religious upbringing. He told them to make every effort to enter into God’s kingdom.

The same is true for us. Rather than focusing on how many people will be in heaven one day, Jesus wants us to focus on making sure we are in heaven one day. This means staying close to Jesus and the promises he makes in the Bible—the promise of forgiveness, peace with God and eternal life through his life, death, and resurrection. Strengthening our faith by the power of God’s Word is how we make every effort to enter the door of heaven.

Prayer:
Lord, lead me to grow your kingdom even as you work on my heart. Amen.