Hi there. Thx for stopping by Abound in Love. 
So, what exactly goes on here?

Have you ever heard of the Narrow Door that Jesus talked about?
Not sure, but go on.

If you read in the Bible at Luke 13:22-30 Jesus says,

“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I
say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When
once the Master of the house has risen up and  shut the
door, and you begin to stand outside and knock
at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He
will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where
you are from,’  then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and
drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ 
But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where  you
are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’

Okay, so what does that have to do with me?
Jesus is talking about eternal life here, and only those
that he KNOWS will enter it.

Well that’s good because he knows everybody.
Yes, but, in those days the “know” he was talking about
was like a close relationship, and when you look at a lot
of the other things he and the rest of the Bible said like,
“All will know you are my disciples if you have love for
one another” (John 13:13-35), “He who does not love
does not know God” (1 John 4:8), “You will know them
by their fruits” (Matt 7:16) the greatest of which is love.  

It seems like there is some connection between “know” and love.
Good thing I love my woman and she loves me eh? And
I really really love my coffee 😊
Yeah, me too!! Coffee in heaven, hmmm Yes! Please.
But, yeah, you are right, there is a connection between
being “known” and love because love is the greatest
command in the entire Bible, love is the fulfillment of all
the laws in the Bible, and as you heard at some recent
wedding, it is greater than faith and hope and when
everything else passes away, love will remain forever.

Cool! But that door doesn’t seem that
narrow to me. It looks like most will go
through it. So why did your first quote
from Jesus say, “Strive”? Strive don’t
 jive 😊
In another passage Jesus says, “Narrow is the gate
and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there
are few who find it (Matt 7;14).

I still don’t see where the difficulty is. Just
believe and love, that’s it right?
Yes. True belief, or faith, actually follows Jesus’ command to love.
otherwise it’s just lip service.  The problem is that the
way the world sees love is different from the way Jesus
sees love. Check it out:

Jesus says love your enemies, do good to those who hate
you. He also asks, what credit is it to you if you only love
those who love you, or if you only do good to those who
do good to you, or if you only lend to those who can pay you
back, because any sinner can do that. His kind of love chooses
patience instead of irritation, anger, and retaliation; his way of love
chooses mercy instead of  criticism, insults, bitterness, and resentment.
When someone offends us or screws up with us once, twice,
and more, Jesus says to forgive them seven time seventy times.
His way of love helps the hungry, the thirsty, the poor, the lonely.

Okay, that is not so easy. I might have to
strive to do that. But isn’t that what they call
“works?” which is not exactly faith?  Aren’t
we saved by faith? There is a bit of a
disconnect here.
Great point. It would be works if we were trying
to love so as to earn our way to eternal life.

Well isn’t that what’s going on here?
Here is the full picture. Works was tried but failed under
what was called the Old Covenant (before Jesus’ time).
The Old Covenant was "broken" because there was basically
no love relationship between God and people. We are only
able to love Him now and know Him because He first loved us.
Under the New Covenant Jesus gave the greatest love,
that is, by laying his life down for us. There has been no
greater love than the Son of the living God giving up his
glory and power, to show this love to his people and teach
them His ways of love, and then to be rejected by them and
then willingly suffer and be tortured by them, way past his
human physical limits where he cried out, “My God My God
why have You forsaken me?” especially when He easily had
the power to stop it. 

How great, really, is that love?

All he asks now is that we love him with our all, and love one
another as he has loved us. The love that he is asking of us is
borne out of the love that he first gave us. We can only love
​because he first loved us. Loving takes intentional abiding in him.
​Our striving is to abide in Him.

​Interesting. It reminds me of when I was
learning to drive and my father was telling
me all the time, “Check your blind spot”
over and over. The rules are there for a
reason. The authorities set the rules and give
out the licence. The creator is the authority
over life, He has set the rule of love and he
gives out the licence to enter eternity. For
whatever reason, the creator has declared
LOVE as the paramount purpose for our
lives, and it is almost counter-cultural to
what most people believe it is. 
We are known as legitimate drivers on the road 
by our drivers licence-we are known for entrance through
the Narrow Door to eternity by our love.
You got it. So, back to your original question, "What goes on here?"
It is a place where spiritual growth is taken to a higher level as we 
walk in His fullness, His will for our lives, and where we get to know
God in relationship.  

There is food, teaching, and great worship.
We hope to see you soon.
​Sounds good. Looking forward to it!