Highway to Heaven
Hazzy challenges us to examine ourselves, to see if we’re really walking the narrow road or not
Being raised in a small village with a dad who introduced me to Jesus and to Rock and Roll, I have found that Jesus and Rock and Roll share these same principles: there’s a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven. Now you might be wondering, why are you using ACDC and Led Zeppelin to prove a point about the Bible? The thing is, the Bible makes it clear that the road to destruction is broad and the road to salvation is narrow (Matthew 7:13-14), so why do so many of us think we can live an easy life, living as if we’re walking on the wide road but still going to heaven? It’s as if many of us want a highway to heaven. The Message version states it like this:
“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easy going formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!— is vigorous and requires total attention.”
Walking along the broad road is easy, you can do whatever you want, be whoever you want, and walk with whomever you want. Walking the narrow road is difficult, it’s uncomfortable, you might have to duck and weave your way through, you have to be the perfect fit. The way to God is vigorous and requires total attention. The word vigorous means forceful or strong. There are no shortcuts or easily formulas to having a relationship with God and walking along the narrow road. Take a look at your walk with God. Has it been easy and content? Or has it taken a lot of strength and vigour? If it hasn’t taken you a lot of strength and commitment, then you probably haven’t been walking with Jesus. Christianity isn’t something we do in our spare time or on a Sunday, it’s a lifestyle. Every part of your life needs to reflect God. The Bible says that crowds of people try to live an ‘easy Christianity’ or take the ‘highway to heaven’ which isn’t really Christianity at all. Just because it’s a popular choice doesn’t make it right. Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn’t make it true. True Christianity is the way Jesus talks about it, vigorous, gritty, and hard work.
“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” ”
I was raised with the doctrine, as many of us were, that simply believing that Jesus died on the cross to save us from your sins is what makes you a Christian, but that’s not actually what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches us that faith and belief alone is not enough to save you, we are considered righteous by what we do and not by faith alone (James 2:14-26). Being a Christian means having faith AND walking along the narrow road.
Jesus says that to be a Christian, we have to deny ourselves daily and carry our cross – if you don’t do these things then you’re not a Christian. Carrying your cross isn’t an easy thing to do, it’s an instrument of death; it requires strength and vigour to carry it every day. However, Jesus also says that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30). How can you carry your cross and have a light burden? Jesus commands a lot from His disciples. Carry your cross! When you become a Christian, you become yoked to Jesus, your burdens become His burdens and He does most of the heavy lifting. Christians have to work hard but it’s really God doing all the work because He works through you.
How has your Christianity been? Has it been a breeze or are you fighting to stay righteous? As a teenager growing in my faith, I never bothered to look into the Bible but simply believed what people told me about the Bible, so when I realised I had been walking along the wide road my whole life, I was shocked. I was living in darkness, in sin every day, not even close to being righteous. I studied the Bible in depth for the first time and I realised that I wasn’t a Christian and I wasn’t saved. Some of you reading now might be having the same revelation that I had, but I promise you it’s not all bad. Once I found out I wasn’t a Christian, I studied the Bible to find out how I could become one.
On the 26th of June 2022 I was baptised into Christ and became a true Christian (Matthew 28:18-20, 1 Peter 3:21). As I walk along the narrow road, I call others to walk along with me. If you’re not walking on the narrow road and you would like to, or if you think you’re walking on the narrow road but you’re not sure, reach out to me on Instagram and we can study the Bible. Join me up the stairway to heaven and help others to get there too!