No Shortcuts
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. – Matthew 7:13-14 NKJV.
The Message puts Matthew 7:13-14 as: 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.
All the high winds that we have experienced here in Oklahoma caused our DISHtv system to develop some problems. Monday the DISHtv technician arrived to try to solve our system problems. I thought it might only take him a few minutes to remount and reposition the dish and he would be done. Instead, it took a couple of hours. The technician discovered that the cable in our attic was not a DISH approved cable, and proceeded to replace it, even though it must have been more than 100 degrees in the attic. He said the old cable would likely have been okay. Then he said, “I don’t do shortcuts.” “No shortcuts.”
Sadly, many try to find a shortcut to God and end up on the “broad” way instead entering at the “narrow gate.” Many try the shortcut of trying to do more good things than bad things. However, we are told in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” There is only One Way to salvation and reconciliation with God. The narrow gate and the way is Jesus Christ! John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
After we have believed upon Jesus unto salvation there are still no shortcuts. There is no shortcut from being a baby in Christ to becoming a mature believer. There will be no growth as a Christian without Bible reading and Bible study. There will be no growth as a Christian without spending time in prayer every day. There will be no growth as a Christian without faithful church attendance. There will be no growth as a Christian without serving your Lord and Savior.
Jesus could have taken a shortcut by accepting the devil’s temptations of Matthew 4, but He defeated those temptations by the Word of God. Jesus could have rejected the cross in the Garden of Gethsemane, instead He prayed in Matthew 26:42, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Just before being nailed to the cross, Jesus could have taken a shortcut as we are told in Matthew 27:34, “they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.” This would have been a shortcut, a small shortcut at best, around some of the suffering of the cross. But Jesus refused to take that shortcut, going to and through the cross because of His great love for us. There was no shortcut to Jesus becoming our Savior. It was a long hard road that Jesus traveled.
Life can be difficult, and your Savior knows that all too well. There are no shortcuts to a life well lived, but Jesus will travel with you on that difficult way. Jesus says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matthew 11:29-30).”