Shortcuts

Watching a mother and her two small children take a shortcut across dangerous tram tracks and a busy street was almost more than I could bear. As an emergency physician, I have spent much of my life medically "fixing" the shortcuts people have taken.

But who am I to criticize? Shortcuts are not unknown to me. In college, instead of reading the whole book, I would, at times, read the Cliff Notes version (a synopsis of the book) rather than wade through the whole book. As a result, I often missed the depth the book had to offer. I wasn't willing to pay the price required.

At times, I have thought that the way to God was a shortcut.

"If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9 NIV)

Seems too easy…it almost seems like a shortcut – until we recognize the cost.

However, in my spiritual life, the idea of shortcuts is appealing in desiring intimacy with God. I want to know God and experience the power of His spirit but I want to have it quickly and without pain. The way to intimacy with God is not a shortcut…it has been described as a narrow way that usually requires pain and/or perseverance. Yet, I have never heard anyone complain that the journey wasn't worth it.

Shortcuts to intimacy with God just don't work. Why do we want to avoid a long, difficult walk with the Savior by our side? He is, indeed, the best company we could ever have.