My father passed away last fall and since then I have been worrying if I will see him again. I believe in God and have accepted Jesus as my savior but my mind just keeps wondering about if I will see him again. All of this worrying is really affecting my ability to live life. The Bible says something like narrow is the path to life but wide is the path to destruction. Does that mean not many people will get to heaven? I worry about messing up the opportunity of going to heaven and not seeing my dad again. Can you please help me?
I believe the wide and narrow paths of Matthew 7:13-14 have often been misinterpreted. Many think the narrow path involves living a life of fearful obedience to a set of rules and regulations, whereas the wide path is the life of a back slider. But a careful examination of the conditions for salvation shows that belief is the only thing required of us (John 3:16, John 6:28-29, Ephesians 2:8-9).
Therefore I’m convinced that the narrow path consists of walking by faith alone, depending solely upon the Lord’s completed work on the cross, and the wide path is depending upon our religious works to either complete or maintain our salvation. If you believe you’re saved by faith alone, you’re on the narrow path, the one that leads to life, and you’ll see your Dad again.
We are still called to live a life that’s pleasing to the Lord. But our motivation for doing so has to be one of gratitude for the free gift of salvation, not the need to add to what the Lord has done for us.