I've been known to take shortcuts on trips. At least that's what I call them. My family terms them "the scenic route." I'm sure though that they are shortcuts - and I'm not changing my story!
I cut corners wherever I can, trimming off a few feet instead of making a 90 degree turn up ahead. Golfers look to go over trees, through narrow spots, to shorten a hole. And we all know that the shortest distance between two points.....is a straight line. Yet no matter how many sidewalks Ohio State puts on the Oval, students will still create paths through the grass. We like shortcuts. Look up "shortcuts" on the Internet and it's 99% about computer keyboard shortcuts. Those work if you can remember them all.
But shortcuts don't work in sports, marriage, family, or anything else you can name, except keyboards. Jesus makes it clear there are no shortcuts to discipleship:
“So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me.” Luke 14:33
“If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it.” Matthew 10:39To be a disciple requires surrender - of everything. Here is what the insighful A.W. Tozer said about it:
“Breezy, self-confident Christians tell us how wonderful it is to accept Christ and then have a good time all the rest of your life; the Lord won’t demand anything of you. Yes, He will, my friend! The Lord will demand everything of you. And when you give it all up to Him, He may bless it and hand it back, but on the other hand He may not.”Discipleship is whole life commitment, 24/7. The frustration about a time from a swimmer who makes half the practices is misplaced. Results are usually the evidence of our commitment (barring illness or injury). Discipleship is Jesus' call to us to come and follow, leaving our boats and our nets (our means to sustain life) in order to give ourselves to an eternal mission. His mission...on His terms. Discipleship is not our gift to Him but His command to us.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian Pastor in WWII Germany who put his faith into action by opposing Hitler, an action that cost him his life. His most famous work is The Cost of Discipleship. If you've never read it, I recommend it more highly than any other book except the Bible. Bonhoeffer understood with his life the call of Jesus to follow. Here is some of what he said:“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”Cheap grace is discipleship by shortcut. It's not possible. It doesn't work. It only creates frustration because you can't swim as fast as you want to. Your result reflects your commitment to prepare. So it is with the Christian who wants the blessings of God without the sacrifice required.
Cheap grace is a shortcut that is really a dead end:- It's Sunday worship without daily Bible reading
- Bible reading without application to everyday life
- church membership without tithing
- tearing down those with whom you disagree while thanking God for loving you
- complaining without being part of the solution
- professing Jesus as Savior but not following Him as Lord of your life
Where are you trying to take a shortcut to discipleship? Look at where you are frustrated in life, it could be an indication you are working on a shortcut. Are you struggling with the same sin over and over again? You're probably taking a shortcut to bypass total surrender.
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