Looking for a good place to eat along the road? Ask where the truck drivers stop; that’s usually a sign of good, reasonably priced food. Want to know where the best foliage sites are in the Fall of the year? Go to the web and see what most people are saying. Let other people do the searching while you learn from them.
Looking for the best movie in town? Or perhaps the best party to attend? Well, now you have a problem with the “follow the crowd” mindset, for your moral standards will be a factor in this situation. Though still a popular pastime, following the crowd can get a fellow in trouble – real trouble.
There was a time when some decided not to “follow the crowd.” The beatniks of the 50’s, the flower children of the 60’s and the “Do your own thing” folks of the 70’s, avoided it, but recently it has come back with a vengeance.
Truly humanity has not changed greatly since the “beginning.” Most folks want a house that looks like a house, clothes that are fashionable, a profession that is honorable and a religion that is traditional. They do not want to be unusual or strange, and they will go to great lengths to avoid it.
Occasionally someone will kick off the traces and do something no one else is doing, and, in some rare cases cause others to follow them. Many will laugh or jeer, while others call in question their sanity, but because he is determined and intelligent, he proves his point.
Richard Wagner’s music was shocking to many who heard it the first time. It was “unusual.” RCA was ridiculed verbally and almost ruined financially when they stood behind their belief that color television would prosper. I need not tell you they were right.
Most of us have read of “Fulton’s Folly,” or the steam engine at work. Scoffers laughed, but his unique utilization of certain facts made the steamboat synonymous with travel on the Mississippi River.
Those men took the abuse and ridicule of their fellows, but their willingness to “swim against the current” was ultimately rewarded.
Simple as it is, the gospel’s call has always been away from conformity with the world. When one is converted the Bible says they have changed from being a servant of sin to being a servant of God – that takes some big changes! One must come out of the world and into a new relationship with both Christ and the world. We are called upon to put Him first, before family, money, friends and profession. We become Christians, saints and priests, regardless of who willingly stands alone or with the majority.
While it has its appeal, following the crowd also has its dangers. Look at the trouble Aaron caused when he listened to the “crowd” instead of the instructions of God, Exodus 32. It kept Solomon and David from serving God fully, 1 Kings 11, and made hypocrites of Barnabas and Peter, Galatians 2.
Jesus makes “following the crowd” an uncomfortable experience. He told those who would follow Him:
“Enter in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go therein, because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it,” Matthew 7:13-14.
No, that does not sound at all like following the crowd – in fact it is the exact opposite. You definitely do not want to take the way that is most crowded, for that way leads to “destruction.” We don’t want that. We want the way of “life”, the way that leads to the joys of heaven as well as a life of hope and happiness while we wait for that time to come.
The “strait” gate and the “strait” way are not “straight” like an arrow. The way of Christ may have many turns and twists in it. It will likely lead to difficult decisions, to tough choices, perhaps even hardships. Jesus’ life was certainly not an easy one, nor can we expect that for ourselves, John 15:20.
A similar term in English for strait is “narrow, difficult.” That describes a tight, “narrow passageway, close quarters, narrow, cramped space or entry way.” Why is it true that “few there be that find it”? Usually it is because many of us are looking for the least troublesome way, the easiest way. If we follow the crowd we will have lots of company, but we will enjoy neither the company nor the destination.
We cannot precisely define "few" or "many", but if many will be lost eternally, while few will be saved eternally, it makes a lot of sense for us to be willing to do whatever it takes to get on that right road and steadfastly stay on that right road. The destination for that road is heaven. The destination – the final destination of that other road..? The Bible says "eternal destruction”. The Bible says, “everlasting fire.” No one enjoys writing or discussing this subject, so read for yourself 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 and Matthew 25:31-41. Then you can decide which destination you want to reach.
