Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Shortcuts

In his book on prayer, Jerram Barrs writes about Jesus’ temptation and his response to the devil when he said, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test:

Jesus knows that there is no shortcut to serving his Father, no easy way to gain the support of the people, no quick and spectacular resolution to this ministry. There is rather faithfulness, doing his Father’s will day after day, trusting him in the troubles that come along, believing in his care when times are tough. Any other way is the way of presumption and pride.


Not much in our American cultural life prepares us for this way of thinking and living. I don’t mean to blame the culture. I know quite well that I can find trouble all on my own. I’ve given plenty of thought as to how I might get through please-fill-in-blank with spectacular results and without pain or bother.

2 comments:

jenni said...

I think I need to read this book - thanks for all the great quotes. I hope you are feeling well, too.

( jason ) said...

Speaking of prayer. I found the March 30 entry in My Utmost for His Highest to be both amazing and humbling.

"Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, "But God, I just don’t see how you are going to do this"? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ."

And he also talks about shortcuts: "Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work-work that demands all your energy..."

Full entry here: www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/03/30/devotion.aspx?year=2009