YEA Lesson Library

The Lesson

Zig Ziglar told a story about John Johnson’s humble beginning. He was the great grandson of slaves and born in a shotgun tin-roofed house. He was a shy, bowlegged lad who wore homemade clothes. His classmates made fun of him. Yet he went from living in a tin-roofed house to living next door to Bob Hope and became one of the four hundred wealthiest men in America.

Becoming one of the wealthy elite may seem easy to many. But remember, Mr. Johnson wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He didn’t inherit millions to make it possible that Bob Hope would be his next door neighbor, nor put him on the list of America’s wealthiest people. John Johnson’s road to success was difficult and hard. But Mr. Johnson had to play the cards in his life that were labeled opportunity.

Opportunity knocks for you and the sky’s the limit. Who your parents are and where you started are not the important factors. You can go from where you are to anywhere you want to go, not just geographically. But there is a price to pay for achievement. The road will be narrow and rocky and there will be hills and valleys. Reaching your desired destination will be hard.

John Johnson followed certain laws or principles that led to his financial success. God gave laws, which if you will apply them in your life, will make you a winner as well. But can you be famous, rich, successful and respected on your job, and yet not be a true winner? Do you have to be rich to be a winner? Is God more concerned with your personal life being happy and your spiritual life being successful than with you bank account? Since Mr. Johnson’s road to financial success wasn’t a bed of roses, will your road to spiritual success be narrow and hard as well? Is it worth it?

One day as the crowds gathered on the hillside, Jesus sat down and taught the people how to be winners. He told them there are two gates, two roads, two crowds, two destinations. The wide gate is spacious and accommodating to peer pressures. Forget about keeping the Sabbath and playing ball on Friday night, it says. Sex just this one time won’t matter. Foul language is okay if your parents don’t hear it. Cheating on exams or your time card at work is all right because everyone does it. The path through the wide gate is oh so attractive. But it is the highway to destruction and the way to missing out on God’s Kingdom.

The narrow gate is restrictive. To go through it requires discipline. The trip through the narrow gate does not permit you to do things Jesus doesn’t allow. It’s not the way to win a popularity contest with your peers. Just like John Johnson’s case, your classmates may taunt, jeer, tease, or lampoon you. So why should you want to chart your course through the narrow gate? Won’t you miss out on so many things? Yes you will. But what will you gain in comparison?

The road through the wide gate gives certain physical thrills, but they are temporary and not without consequences. Many of the consequences are immediate and some are not. Breaking the Sabbath to play in a ball game may ensure your team wins. What if you have premarital sex and don’t get AIDS or another sexually transmitted disease, and the girl doesn’t end up pregnant? Were there no consequences? How about your foul language if your parents didn’t hear, did God hear? Maybe you cheated on an exam and made an “A,” were you really better off? But what do these infractions of God’s law do to your relationship with God? What temporary and lasting impact do they have on you as a person?

“Listen now! The Lord isn’t too weak to save you. And he isn’t getting deaf! He can hear you when you call! But the trouble is that your sins have cut you off from God. Because of sin he has turned his face away from you and will not listen anymore” (Isaiah 59:1,2). How important is it for God to hear you when you pray? Do you want Him opening doors for you to be admitted into the right college, to getting a great job, or finding a wonderful marriage partner? These are things you may not be able to do for yourself. What if you’re really in trouble? If you’ve had an accident and your life is hanging in the balance, would you want God to hear your prayers?

Even though the wide gate your peers may want you to enter seems exciting and fun, it leads to pain today and death tomorrow. “The way of the transgressor is hard” (Proverbs 13:15). It leads to guilt, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, fights, jail terms, misery, and eventually death. It doesn’t just lead to physical death, but eternal death. “But cowards who turn back from following me, and those who are unfaithful to me, and the corrupt, and murderers, and the immoral, and those conversing with demons, and idol worshipers and all liars – their doom is in the Lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This is the second Death” (Revelation 21:8 TLB). So there’s more at stake than your physical life.

But the good news is that the rewards are wonderful for those who enter the narrow gate and live the disciplined life. “But everyone who conquers will inherit all these blessings, and I will be his God and he will be my son . . . I watched that wondrous city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of the skies from God. It was filled with the glory of God. And flashed and glowed like a precious gem, crystal clear like jasper” (Revelation 21:7, 10-11 TLB).

John Johnson was dealt a set of cards labeled opportunity. He lived the disciplined life and followed the law which led to wealth and the opportunity to be Bob Hope’s neighbor. You are also being dealt a set of cards labeled opportunity. Even the sky is no limit for you. But you must follow God’s law and the principles Jesus Christ laid out for you to be a winner. The path is narrow, but the rewards are worth it!