shortcuts

"Don't look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life---to God!---is vigorous and requires total attention" Matthew 7:13-14 the message bible

I love this verse. I think it embodies so much of what is happening in our "christian" American culture. Walk into any bookstore and you are immediately flooded with how to have "your best life" "the good life" and basically "the easy, care free, fit God in their somewhere" life of your dreams. Is that really what it's all about?

There is always the temptation to compartmentalize your life. Everything put neatly into little boxes. A home box, work box, family box, and church "God" box. We want God in the boxes where and when we need His help, but pass when we think we can handle it just fine on our own. God doesn't want to be first in your life, He want to be the center. God is not a task on a list that you check off after you've had devotions, He is to be the reason for EVERY thought, decision, and action that you do in life. God annoints lives, not boxes.

There is no shortcut to that kind of relationship with God, and you will never truly be satisfied with less. Your walk with HIm will eventually become frustrating and leave you feeling like something must be missing. Don't look for a shortcut to intimacy. Any lasting, authentic relationship must be developed, and God is no different. In Poker, the term "all in" represents when you put it all on the line. Every last chip goes in the middle and you realize this is a make or break moment. I want an all in relationship with God and I'm convinced that total surrender is the only way. Remember, intimacy with Jesus is not a destination you finally arrive at, but a direction you continuously travel.

"There is a God that we want, and a God that is--very rarely are they the same"---Patrick Morely