This urgent exhortation and parable were Jesus' response to the question, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" (Luke 13:23)  The first thing to note is that entrance into Christ’s kingdom involves an eager desire and a willingness to remove obstacles.  ‘Make every effort’ is not passive; it is as active as competing in a race.  This is a recurrent New Testament theme (Hebrews 4:11; Hebrews 12:14; 2 Peter 3:14).  It is a call to willingly engage with the call of God, even though many will not.  The narrow door will not accommodate the baggage of human reason, fleshly self-advertisement or religious point-scoring good works (Matthew 7:21-23).  The narrow door will only accept a repentant sinner who depends on God’s grace for forgiveness and restoration (Luke 5:8-11).

What about the others?  Those who think they have a right to God’s eternal kingdom - because of their heritage, their parents’ faith or their superior morality?  Jesus’ story paints a picture of a feast being given in somebody's house.  Many people want to come, but at some point, the owner closes the door.  Those who are late have clearly made no effort to be there on time, but worse than that, the host says that he does not know who they are.  They protest that they have been around him and heard his teaching.  But they have no personal relationship with the host who calls them 'evildoers' and tells them to go away.

Jesus was speaking about Himself.  He had been surrounded by crowds, who had witnessed His miracles and listened to His teaching (Luke 9:10-11).  But that is all they did.  They were religiously aware but they had not taken any steps to repent of their evildoing, nor had they come to Him for mercy.  The 'effort' Jesus spoke about was not the energy of religious activity (they were full of that); it was the deliberate choice of moving from faith in themselves, faith in their religious system and faith in their leaders ... to faith in Jesus as the Saviour of the world.  That kind of belief-change is not automatic; it requires a personal conscious decision to abandon empty ways and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation (1 Peter 1:18).  Being in the religious crowd requires little effort and no faith: neither does it save people.  Relationship with Jesus is only established as people come to Him as sinners seeking mercy and grace (Hebrews 4:16).

It is the same today.  Churchgoing or any religious devotional practice is useless in securing entrance to God's eternal kingdom unless there is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Without that interpersonal bond, all who hope for the blessings of heaven will be refused entrance and branded as evildoers.  That may sound a harsh statement, but it is true. The Bible says, "The Lord is ... patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9).  He is waiting, but His patience must not be taken as sentimental indulgence.  He has the right to close the door at any time to those who refuse to repent and get right with God.  So, make every effort to ask for mercy, and encourage your friends and colleagues to do the same.