Shortcuts

 October 4, 2022

There are no shortcuts to holiness. Yesterday, Linda and I watched a video teaching on the 23rd Psalm. The presenter was talking about the phrase, “He leads me in righteousness for his name’s sake,” commenting that the word “leads” actually means to walk in circles. On-site in Israel, he showed hillsides terraced by sheep walking around and around the hill to get to the top. I’ve seen similar paths on hillsides here, terraced by cows walking around them. The presenter said, “The shortest way to the top is dangerous; a sheep can easily lose its footing and fall. Safety is in the long way around.”

This morning in our pastors’ prayer group, Nate spoke of his experience with cancer. The night before he got sick, he was reading Jesus’ words to his disciples at the Last Supper, as recorded by John: “I am going away, but it is best for you, because if I don’t go away, the Comforter cannot come.” 

Nate noted that when he read that, he thought, “This must have been hard for the disciples. They didn’t understand. Jesus’ words were uncomfortable.” The very next day, he got sick and was diagnosed with cancer. “I don’t want cancer. It’s uncomfortable for me. But from the very first day, God gave me incredible peace,” he said. “God has repeatedly told me I’m going to be healed, but I have to go through the process. There are no shortcuts.”

Most of us would prefer the easy way. We like shortcuts. Linda cringes whenever I say I know a shortcut somewhere; I’ve gotten us lost way too many times. Once when in college, my mother visited for some reason. I was driving her home and told her I knew a shortcut. It was late at night, and I was barreling down the road when it suddenly took a sharp (I mean a 90 degree sharp) left turn across a bridge. I screeched to a stop inches away from center punching a concrete bridge abutment. Mom cried the rest of the hour and a half trip home.

Shortcuts may seem nice, but they aren’t God’s way to holiness. The first sin was an attempt to take a shortcut to wisdom; most sins are shortcuts to wealth, happiness, health, that turn out to be traps that imprison us in empty promises. Christians want to be Christ-like, but it cannot happen apart from time spent in the Scriptures and prayer, in worship, fasting, and service. Too often I’ve stood at a graveside, praying for grieving people who desperately want the assurance that their loved one is in heaven, when that person spent a lifetime taking shortcuts. No matter what I say at such times, the assurance isn’t there. The shortcut turned out to be a dead end. 

The words Linda and I heard are not just for the unbelieving; they were for us. The persons we want to be, the family we want to have, the church to which we belong are not attained by taking shortcuts. I am thankful tonight that Jesus refused the shortcuts Satan offered him in the Temptation, and instead chose the long and difficult path to the Cross. His “path of righteousness” has become the way to life for all who believe.