Introduction

As I was taking my golf lesson the other day, I was pointing out to my instructor that I was told by my first teacher to stand in an angle when swinging wages and irons. My golf instructor wasted no time in telling me that she does not teach shortcuts; that she tries her best to teach the correct way, from the beginning, to avoid the development of bad habits. Her words got me thinking about how often we use shortcuts for our physical and spiritual health.

Before I continue, let me establish that taking good care of ourselves is a biblical principle. First Thessalonians 5:23 tells us, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (NASB) These verses represent the biblical foundation for this three-part article.  The honest true is that when it comes down to our overall health as humans, there are no shortcuts.

            A shortcut is commonly defined as, “…a shorter alternative route; an accelerated way of doing or achieving something.”[1] Shortcuts are embraced openly by our society; we like things easy and we like things now. I do not argue that time has shown us that there are better and faster ways of doing some things; not all shortcuts are bad. Nevertheless, there are times when shortcuts are designed to hurt us and rob us of a great blessing, in this case, physical and spiritual blessings. There are no shortcuts there! We must pay the price, we must work hard, do our part and, make the time, if, we want to get better… PERIOD!

Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash recently, understood these principles as he stated, “I can’t relate to lazy people. We don’t speak the same language. I don’t understand you. I don’t want to understand you.”

The Bible explains a very simple truth relating to this topic. In Galatians 6:7-8 the Bible tells us, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.⁸ Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” (NIV) Shortcuts are, many times, an attempt to mock God. Nevertheless, the law is very clear, whatever we are sowing, that we will we also reap.

To be continue…

[1] https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=shortcut&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8