“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad and easy to travel is the path that leads the way to destruction and eternal loss, and there are many who enter through it.” – Matthew 7:13, AMP

I am an ardent football fan who has been going to the stadium to watch the Uganda Cranes since my secondary school days.

When I was younger, I used to like sitting in the ‘Kirussia’ for obvious reasons – the tickets are the cheapest in addition to the too much fun that goes on there.

However, as my income increased, I started shunning Kirrusia, preferring the other sections of the stadium.

The congestion, din, smoking, profanities, etc in Kirussia would become too much to bear.

Furthermore, you have to be extremely alert as your wallet or phone could disappear in an instant because of the congestion, especially when exiting the stadium.

Kirussia is popular, cheap and full of fun but certainly not worth it, if you are going to leave with a headache at best or lose your phone at worst.

In our meditation today, our Lord Jesus is admonishing us to shun Kirussia, even if it must involve paying a higher price.

“Wide and easy to travel is the path that leads the way to destruction and eternal loss, and there are many who enter through it,” the Lord warns.

By why is there a crowd on the road that leads to destruction?

The Greek word translated ‘destruction’ in the New Testament is used to describe perdition, loss or waste – often with implications of eternal consequences.

Essentially, the Lord saying that the pathway to destruction is popular, easy and thus congested.

In contrast, the path to life is narrow and harder to find, and thus has fewer people on it.

The ‘broad road’ symbolizes living a life focused on worldly pleasures, away from God’s will.

Keep on strengthening your faith by not neglecting spiritual practices like prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with other believers.

The narrow path requires humility, faith, obedience, and commitment to God’s ways, all of which make it unpleasant and lonely.

In the contemporary world where ‘liberalism’ and ‘pop culture’ keep gathering people into a a mass of ‘global citizens’ – promising a sense of belonging where our value systems, beliefs, norms, behaviors and worldviews are shaped by the mass media, God challenges us to say ‘No’ and swim against the tide.

Our Lord’s warning about the broad way leading to destruction serves as a sobering reminder to choose the path that leads to life, requiring sacrificial commitment to the ways of God amidst the formidable cultural pressures and anti-Christian worldviews.

As a Christian, standing against the allure of pop culture involves being intentional about your values, boundaries, and relationship with God.

To navigate pop culture’s influences in a bid to avoid eternal loss and destruction, we need to ground ourselves in the Word of God and to tightly hold onto our Christian values.

Be mindful of what you consume in movies, music, TV, and social media.

You must choose the kind of content that uplifts and aligns with your faith, lest “you win the world and lose your own soul.”

Keep on strengthening your faith by not neglecting spiritual practices like prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with other believers.

Consistently challenge the status quo, not only by and boldly speaking out against worldliness, but also by living out your faith authentically, showing others Christ’s love and truth through your actions and interactions.