Shortcuts

          Have you ever had the desire to take a short cut? While coming home from Northern Virginia a couple of years ago, my GPS alerted me to a shortcut and kept urging me to take that route. I left the three lane highway and set out on this short cut. The road was paved and two lanes. After a couple of miles it narrowed and the lines disappeared and then it became a gravel road. We came to a small creek and the bridge was nothing more than a slab of concrete with holes in it laying in the middle of the creek. We passed by small farms with goats, llamas and other assorted animals. We were going up and down hills in wooded areas and soon the GPS prompted me to take a right turn on this small road. The sign on the road said, “This road not for motorized vehicles” and had grass growing in the middle of the road. I stopped, turned around and endeavored to find my way back to my comfortable three lane highway. In the future, I will not be tempted to take shortcuts that have the word “hollow” in the road name. Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

         God often describes our journey in this life as a race and He describes many things that will occur on this race. Even in spiritual matters, we are tempted to try to take shortcuts. We would like to take a nap and wake up more spiritual than before because we put our Bible under the pillow. We know that it won't work but we try to come up with something that will speed us along so that we end up being a mature, loving, forgiving person in a matter of hours instead of the years of chipping away on a petrified character. My race and probably the races of many others are filled with uncomfortable obstacles and at some point or another, we have the desire to take a shortcut. In a real race, if you take a shortcut, you are disqualified and it will do you no good so you persevere with the aches and pains that comes with each step keeping your eyes on the finish line. Spiritually speaking, we do the same thing. Our eyes are focused on the finish line which in this case is heaven itself and so we persevere knowing full well that the outcome will be “worth it all.” We also notice that our focused is not on the aches and pains of the race but on the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. Because He completed the “race” that was set before Him, we, too, can finish the race that is set before us. If someone seems to offer you a shortcut in order to achieve spiritual maturity, don't waste your time on it as there is no shortcut. Praise god today that He is our Guide in all areas of our lives.