Renovaré Weekly · January 3, 2025

Are we settling for less?

LETTER BY BRIAN MORYKON

Rich Villodas’s new book The Narrow Path almost had another title:

Narrow Path, Spacious Life.

I like that better because we need the reminder of spaciousness. Even longtime Jesus followers can slip into thinking that God is a killjoy and that the way of Jesus constricts. When, in fact, it’s the broad and crowded path of self-will that puts the squeeze on you. The narrow way of Jesus is life, a fresh breath, the place where we say with David, “He brought me out into a spacious place” (Ps. 18).

Villodas writes:

Jesus wants you to experience the thrill and satisfaction of the narrow way. The question is, Are you settling for less?

Whew.

Are you — am I — settling for less?

Settling for false security of any kind.

Settling for scruples instead of being Spirit-led.

Settling for scrolling when silent prayer would feed the soul.

Settling for safety when God’s invitation is to step out and serve.

Settling for subtle resentments instead of inviting God to dig into our bedrock of anger.

This year, I don’t want to settle for the broad path that bends toward a dull decay. I want the narrow path of Jesus that winds toward life. Dying to self along the way, painful as it may be, is a small price for the joy of being alive in Christ.

Helping people find and walk the narrow path of Jesus into the spacious life he offers is why Renovaré exists. All the things we do — like RēGathering this June, the Book Club (Rich’s book begins Monday), the Renovaré Institute, and resources like this newsletter — are to help folks walk into the abundant life of Jesus.

So may this year of our Lord, 2025, be an “unsettling” year, one where we don’t settle for less than the good God desires for us and for those God wants to love through us.

Brian Morykon
Director of Communications

P.S. Friends can sign up for this newsletter free at renovare.org/digest.

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LET’S DIVE IN...

CURATED BY GRACE POUCH

1.

“There are open vistas available to us in Christ.” In this week’s conversation on Life with God, Rich and Nathan explore “the narrow path” and the quality of a life transformed by the perspectives and practices of Christ.
2.

Read an excerpt from Rich’s book The Narrow Path here.
3.

We hope you’ll join us to read The Narrow Path, starting in just a few days in the Renovaré Book Club. There’s a discounted rate if you are joining for this second half of the club, and you’ll get exclusive podcasts, group discussion prompts, and other helpful resources when you join.
4.

“Ten Big Questions about Spiritual Formation” is one of the most helpful articles in our archive for understanding the life that Jesus offers and how we cooperate with God to grow in grace.
5.

“Are you willing … to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want… to make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open – are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.” Read “Keeping Christmas” by Henry van Dyke.
6.

Regarding the narrow path of Jesus, Richard Foster writes, “If we are to take the biblical revelation seriously we must wrestle with the subject of hell. My discomfort (yours too, perhaps) is simply beside the point.” In a vintage newsletter from the Renovaré archive, Foster clarifies the choice that lies before us: community or isolation, God’s kingdom or our own, “with-God” life or “away-from-God” life.

Grace Pouch
Content Manager

WORTH QUOTING

“I dream of a day when spiritual formation has so saturated all who follow hard after Jesus that they become known to all as experts in how to live well. How to love a spouse well. How to raise children well. How to study well. How to face adversity well. How to run businesses and financial institutions well. How to form community life well. How to reach out to those on the margins well. And even how to die well.”

– Richard Foster
Perspectives Newsletter Vol. 16 No. 3 (source)

TO CONTEMPLATE

The Kangxi Emperor’s Southern Inspection Tour (detail from the 45-foot-long scroll)
Wang Hui c. 1698 (source)

No one sets off on a journey without having some sense of where to go — some map of the terrain or a trusted guide saying “go this way.” Jesus is both. He is our guide, and he’s a grand-scale view of the landscape of a with-God life. The deep love of Jesus, his integrity, his freedom from performing or manipulating… Every aspect of his character and being are like topographical features showing us that the narrow path leads to a genuinely good and spacious life. Hear his words with fresh ears: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

TO PONDER

Nathan Foster asked Rich Villodas on this week’s podcast “How do you start to recognize the character of Christ in other people?”

What do you consider to be the marks of a genuinely good life? What traits shimmer for you as marks of Jesus’s influence on someone’s life?