Narrow Minded

A year ago Michael Sam was practically unknown.  A week ago, despite being SEC defensive player of the year, Michael Sam was an unheralded NFL prospect.  Today Michael Sam is perhaps the most famous football player on the planet.  His rise to super-stardom had nothing to do with on field accomplishments.  Michael Sam's notoriety is a byproduct of him announcing that he is homosexual.  Sports writers, anchors, and even the first lady have unanimously described his decision to announce his homosexuality as courageous, heroic and inspirational.  Connected to these articles, and scattered on message boards are thousands of comments commending Sam for his "bravery".  Tucked away between comments of admiration and adoration are comments describing Sam's lifestyle choice as perverted and his decision to announce it as anything but heroic.  Some of these comments were obviously the work of people whose sole purpose in typing them is to stir up emotional responses.  Some responses however were poster's unappreciated attempts to proselytize the masses.

As to be expected, most of these posts are met with misquoted scriptures, misinterpreted bible excerpts and characterizations of being a narrow minded, intolerant bigots.  This is the world we live in; selectively tolerant but absolutely intolerant of all things Christ related.  In this world, God is mocked, and dedication to Christ is viewed as the choice of those lacking the mental acumen to evolve with society.  Among the insults and cries of "judge not" and "Let he who is without sin"; the hurled insult of narrow minded echoed in my head.  It echoed, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I am narrow minded; and unwilling to veer from that.

In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus says:

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because[a] narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

As I've thought on it, I realized that my narrow mind was not an insult but a necessity to walk the narrow path.  I have been given a narrow mind to walk the narrow path.  Narrow minded, by definition, is a person whose mind is not receptive to new ideas.  In John 14:6 Jesus famously declared:

I am THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIGHT.  NO MAN comes to the Father but by ME.

There has never been a more definitive statement made.  Jesus left no wiggle room.  There is no back door into heaven, no way to bypass the need for Jesus.  To believe this statement takes a narrow mindset.  Jesus made this statement 2,000 years ago.  It takes an unwavering mind to continue to cling to those words from a man those on the wide path have deemed to be a fictional character.

Don't be disillusioned into thinking that Jesus had nothing to say regarding marriage.  In Matthew 19:4-6 Jesus said:

4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

So as this world evolves, I encourage you as followers of Christ to maintain the mind that allows you to walk the narrow path.  I encourage you that as the world calls you narrow minded to understand that what they mean as an insult is is needed for us to be pleasing to Christ.  As we traverse this world that will mock and reject us, be encouraged by Jesus' words:

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.