Next time you pass by a site where the ground is being broken and a foundation is about to be laid for a house or other building, try asking the workers to shortcut and skip the foundation. Can’t find a building in this early stage? Then try to find one lacking a roof, and ask the builders to skip the roof and just lay the roofing material down without it.
Better yet, see if some builders will just put the windows up without bothering with the outside walls. Sounds absurd, doesn’t it? Will they accept these recommendations? Suppose no plumbing or electric wires were installed, or not even an empty place for them in the future. How about a twenty-story building built with absolutely no windows—just empty holes with plastic stretched across them? No shortcut is permitted in an architect’s plan.
A Shortcut With God is Not A Good Idea
Yet there are individuals professing to be true followers of Jesus Christ who do something like this all the time. They feel they can make some shortcut with God’s plan for their lives without taking any thought of the consequences. Many think they don’t have to follow every detail or directive of Christ, that only the majority of them really matter.
Others find it too painful to obey some of the commands given, so they just skip them for now (or forever). They may also feel that it is just too hard to do everything, but God will accept them regardless. Some have been deceived into believing that not everything Jesus said is to be obeyed, that some areas are just symbolic.
Every time we shortcut in an attempt to get ahead more quickly, or to shorten the trial and tribulation that God is bringing us through, we only push ourselves farther back in our walk with Him instead.
Cutting Short God’s Trials Only Lengthens Them
Sadly though, none of this is true. There can be no shortcut in God’s plan for our lives. Every time we take a shortcut in an attempt to get ahead more quickly, or to shorten the trial and tribulation that God is bringing us through, we only push ourselves farther back in our walk with Him instead. If we think we can bypass a portion of our allotted journey, then He will lead us back through it again later, with more difficulty. A structure can’t stand without a solid foundation, and we can’t establish a solid relationship with God unless Jesus Christ and His Word are our foundation.
Many years ago, an allegorical story was written of a young believer’s journey to Heaven. In one chapter, two men climbed over a wall that went beside the path along the way that the young believer was traveling. When questioned about this, they claimed that they didn’t need to go through all of the troubles and distance that the young believer had to go through. They felt justified in such actions, and merrily hurried on ahead of the young but maturing believer, smug in their accomplishments.
The others tried to take a shortcut and therefore never received a proper beginning or solid foundation.
No sooner had they gone out of sight when a significant commotion arose from the direction they had just traveled. It wasn’t long before one of them returned in hasty retreat, fleeing home in terror. In passing, he frightfully warned of the horrible danger ahead and that his companion did not make it.
But the young believer continued on, wary but not fearful. Why? Because he had not taken any shortcut along the way. He had been continually prepared for such trials to come along the whole pathway that he had been told to take. The others tried to take a shortcut and therefore never received a proper beginning or solid foundation. They were not prepared for the trials ahead and, as a consequence, suffered dreadfully.
A Shortcut Can be a Serious Problem
When we cut corners or take a shortcut in our walk with Christ, we only set ourselves up for later disappointment or even danger. We make ourselves vulnerable to the enemy by not going through the proper training and instruction first. Imagine the disaster that would unfold if we decided to take a shortcut by going down a very steep hill after skipping the lesson on how to properly use the brakes on our vehicle or bike!
When God gives us instruction, guidance, or correction, it is not optional; He expects our obedience. We can’t pick and choose whatever we feel works best for us and just leave the rest. God has a specific plan for each of us that He knows will work for our good—as long as we follow it.
Like a house, God is building us from the ground up. He wants us to yield to His efforts during the time of construction. If He does not take a shortcut in developing us, why do we think we can cut corners or take shortcuts in our walk with Him? We need to be devoted to His will and obedient to His word, not to what we think is right.
[Additional image credits: Featured image (when applicable) by fionakate Storey on PublicDomainPictures.net; Opening image: flickr photo by Stewf shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license]
